International Telecommunication Union

BROADBAND KOREA:
INTERNET CASE STUDY

March 2003
This report was prepared by Tim Kelly, Vanessa Gray and Michael Minges. It is based
on research carried out from 23 to 30 May 2002 as well as articles and reports noted
in the document. The assistance of the Ministry of Information and Communication,
particularly Sang-Hak Lee, was indispensable and highly appreciated. The assistance
of colleagues within ITU is also noted particularly Nathalie Delmas, who formatted the
report and created the cover. Both Jin-Kyu Jeong and Chinyong Chong provided detailed
comments.

The report would not have been possible without the cooperation of the many Korean
organizations who offered their time to the report’s authors. The report is one of a
series examining the Internet in developing nations. Additional information is available
on ITU’s Internet Case Study web page at http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/cs/.

The report may not necessarily reflect the opinions of ITU, its members or the
Government of the Republic of Korea.

The title refers to Korea’s top ranking in broadband Internet penetration.

NOTE: UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE, ALL REFERENCES TO KOREA IN

THE REPORT REFER TO THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA ALSO COMMONLY
KNOWN AS SOUTH KOREA.

© ITU 2003

ii
Contents

1. From rags to riches in ICT .................................................... 1

1.1 The Korea miracle ....................................................................... 1
1.2 What explains Korea’s success? ..................................................... 2
1.3 ICT in the Korean economy ........................................................... 3

2. ICT market .......................................................................... 5

2.1 The end of circuit switching? ......................................................... 5
2.2 Another broadband path to the home ............................................. 9
2.3 Broadening Internet .................................................................. 10
2.4 Mobile Communications .............................................................. 14

3. Sector absorption and ICT applications ............................. 31

3.1 E-government ........................................................................... 31
3.2 Education ................................................................................. 39
3.3 Health ...................................................................................... 45
3.4 Electronic commerce in Korea ..................................................... 46

4. The Information Society in Korea ...................................... 53

4.1 The Vision of a Creative, Knowledge-Based Society ........................ 53
4.2 The Policy Push – creating an information society .......................... 54
4.3 Information society lifestyles ...................................................... 57

5. Conclusion ......................................................................... 63
5.1 State of the Internet .................................................................. 63
5.2 Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics ................................................. 64
5.3 Learning from Korea .................................................................. 65

Annex 1: List of meetings ........................................................ 71

Annex 2: Acronyms and abbreviations .................................... 72
Annex 3: Framework dimensions ............................................ 75

iii
Figures

1.1 Korea catches up … ..................................................................... 1

2.1 Network transition ....................................................................... 8
2.2 More and more bandwidth ............................................................ 8
2.3 Top Internet countries ................................................................ 10
2.4 Internet drivers: Content and Broadband ...................................... 11
2.5 Internet exchanges and international bandwidth ............................ 13
2.6 Korea's domain name structure ................................................... 14
2.7 Catching up and overtaking ........................................................ 15
2.8 Mobile evolution in Korea ........................................................... 16
2.9 How are they related? ................................................................ 17
2.10 Growing the mobile data market ................................................. 20
2.11 Mobile data usage patterns ......................................................... 22
2.12 The top five most popular mobile data services on KTF's 2G
and 1x services ..................................................................... 25
2.13 Ahead of the pack ..................................................................... 27
3.1 Korea's ICT plans ...................................................................... 33
3.2 Korean youth online ................................................................... 39
3.3 A nation of online shoppers ........................................................ 47
3.4 E-commerce usage in Korean companies ...................................... 49
4.1 Korea's IT industry .................................................................... 53
4.2 Korea's broadband users ............................................................ 54
4.3 Information society: lost opportunities and job opportunities .......... 58
4.4 Information Society: hopes and fears ........................................... 59
5.1 State of Internet in the Republic of Korea ..................................... 63
5.2 Recomparing Korea and Switzerland ............................................ 66

Tables

1.1 Socio-demographic indicators ....................................................... 2

1.2 Korea's ICT Sector ....................................................................... 3
2.1 Telephone service competition in Korea .......................................... 5
2.2 Korean mass media indicators ....................................................... 9
2.3 Implementations of mobile data services ...................................... 20
3.1 Korean government ICT budget ................................................... 31
3.2 e-Government initiatives ............................................................ 35
3.3 Ranking e-government ............................................................... 39
3.4 e-education indicators in Korea ................................................... 40
3.5 Summary of Korea's General Plan for Promoting e-Commerce ......... 48
4.1 Korean Government budget for informatization projects ................. 55
5.1 Ranking Korea .......................................................................... 65
5.2 Which factors can be exported? ................................................... 67

iv
Boxes

2.1 The Republic of Korea's path to universal service ............................. 6

2.2 One big Intranet? ...................................................................... 11
2.3 Broadband drivers ..................................................................... 12
2.4 1x, 1x EV-DO, IMT-2000: What's the difference? ........................... 19
2.5 Handset wars ............................................................................ 21
3.1 The Korean equilibrium - public and private harmony ..................... 32
3.2 ETRI — Korea's innovation driver ................................................. 37
3.3 From mechanics to web design .................................................... 42
3.4 Dot.school ................................................................................ 44
3.5 Computerizing medical claims ..................................................... 46
3.6 Measuring e-commerce .............................................................. 51
4.1 Critical infrastructure protection .................................................. 56
4.2 The dark side of the information revolution ................................... 60
5.1 And what of the North? .............................................................. 69

v
 1. From rags to riches in ICT

1. From rags to riches in ICT

1.1 The Korea miracle
The Republic of Korea (Korea) has made
major strides in Information and
Communication Technology (ICT) over
the last four decades:
• In 1960, Korea had a telephone pen-
etration of 0.36 per 100 inhabitants,
barely one tenth of the then world
average. By 1981, Korea caught up
with the world average and at the end
of 2002, its teledensity was 48.8, or
almost three times more than the
world average (see Figure 1.1, top
left). Today 92 per cent of Korean
households have a fixed telephone
and 79 per cent have a mobile one.
• In 1995, Korea had less than one
Internet user per 100 inhabitants. In
1999, it surpassed the developed
nation average (see Figure 1.1, top
right) and by the end of 2002 was
the world’s fifth largest Internet mar-
ket, with 26 million users. Korea has
the third highest Internet penetration
in the world and ranks top in Asia
(see Figure 1.1, bottom left).
• Korea leads the world in broadband
Internet access penetration. At De-
cember 2002, Korea’s penetration of
Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) and ca-
ble modem Internet access was first
in the world (see Figure 1.1, bottom
right).
Korea is the leading example of a country
rising from a low level of ICT access to
one of the highest in the world. Is Korea
a miraculous exception or are there
lessons to be learned for other
countries? This case study examines the
factors that have accelerated ICT
development. This chapter looks at the
extent to which ICT has permeated
Korea in its efforts to transform towards
a knowledge-based society.

Figure 1.1: Korea catches up …

Fixed line telephone subscribers per Internet users per 100 inhabitants

50 100 inhabitants 60 Korea

45
50 Advanced: Western Europe,
40
Korea North America, developed
35 40
30 Asia-Pacific
30 Advanced
25
20
20
15
10 World 10
5
0 0
1960 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 2000 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002

… and starts to take the lead

Top 5 Asian economies by Internet Top 5 economies by broadband

penetration, 2002* penetration, 2002

Korea (Rep.) 55
Korea (Rep.) 21.3

Singapore 52 Hongkong, China 14.6

Japan 45 Canada 11.5

Hongkong, China 43 Iceland 8.6

Taiwan, China 37 Denmark 8.6

Note: *PC-based users.

Source: ITU World Telecommunication Indicators database.

1
Korea Internet Case Study

1.2 What explains Korea’s language. Koreans have their own

success?
Korea is not demographically suited
to have the highest Internet
penetration in Asia. It is the largest
of the so-called Four Tigers (the others
being Hong Kong, China; Singapore
and Taiwan, China) both in terms of
land area and population. The Republic
of Korea’s population stood at
47.7 million in 2001, twice as large
as Taiwan, China, seven times bigger
than Hong Kong, China and more than
11 times larger than Singapore.
Korea is also not economically suited
to have the highest Internet
penetration in Asia. All the other
Tigers have a higher per capita income
than Korea’s US$ 9’400 in 2001 as do
50 other economies. The World Bank
classifies Korea as an upper-middle-
income country, one category down
from the high-income classification.
Therefore, though Korea is not poor,
it is not among the world’s wealthiest
nations. Hence, Korea’s high level of
Internet penetration is not strongly
correlated to its income level.
Another factor seemingly weighing
against Korea’s ICT development is
language. Therefore, the country
cannot easily leverage the vast
amount of content developed in more
widely spoken languages. The Korean
alphabet, known as Han-gul, uses a
pictographic font that is not ideally
suited to computerization.
On the other hand, Han-gul is phonetic
with one character representing a
sound, making it easy to learn: “Han-
gul is a simple, scientific language.
Learning how to read it is easy, which
is probably one of the reasons why
Korea has one of the highest literacy
rates in the world.”1 This is where the
tide starts turning in Korea’s favour.
Its literacy rate of 97.6 is the highest
among the Asian Tigers.
Korea also excels in education. Its
overall school enrolment rate
(primary, secondary and tertiary) of
90 per cent is the highest among the
Asian Tigers. Primary school is
compulsory (and free) and soon
secondary will be. Korea’s tertiary
school enrolment is quite high at
68 per cent. Korea has the highest
level of secondary school graduates
among all high-income Asia-Pacific
economies.

Table 1.1: Socio-demographic indicators

Selected socio-economic indicators for Asia-Pacific economies

Gross Tertiary
National Population students
Income Land per 100
per capita, area Total Density School inhab- Second
US$, (km2, (000s) Per % enrol- itants -ary+
2001 000s) 2001 km2 Urban Literacy -ment d) c)

Korea (Rep.) 9’400 99 47’676 482 82 97.6 90 5.0 71.8

New Zealand 12’380 268 3’912 15 87 99.0 99 4.6 72.4
Taiwan, China a) 14’188 36 22’406 619 84 95.6 83 3.3 58.2
Australia 19’770 7’682 19’604 3 85 99.0 116 5.4 67.3
Singapore 24’740 0.682 4’131 b) 6'055 100 92.5 75 2.5 55.0
Hong Kong, China 25’920 1.099 6’760 6'151 100 93.3 63 1.6 52.1
Japan 35’990 365 127'370 340 79 99.0 82 3.1 66.2

Note: a) Data for Taiwan, China from Bureau of Statistics. b) Mid-year. c) Per cent of adult population with
at least a secondary education. d) 1995 or latest year available.
Source: National statistics (Population, Secondary+), World Bank (GNI, land area, urban population), UNDP
(literacy, school enrolment), UNESCO (Tertiary students).

2
 1. From rags to riches in ICT

Korea’s high rate of literacy and school
enrolment are essential prerequisites
for the widespread adoption of ICTs.
These factors have helped contribute
to the growing impact of ICT in Korean
economy and society.
the ICT industry in the Korean
economy was 13 per cent in 2000, up
from 8.6 per cent in 1997 and the
highest among the Organization of
Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD) countries.2

1.3 ICT in the Korean ICT is also adding value to the

economy
Korea’s economic growth is often
described as a miracle. Starting with
a per capita income of less than
US$ 100 in 1960, Korea averaged an
annual economic growth rate of eight
per cent a year for the next four
decades. By 2000, per capita income
was US$ 8’910 and Korea’s economy
ranked 13th in the world. The focus of
growth has been manufacturing and
exports. As Korea’s economy has
matured, its manufacturing base has
shifted from textiles, to chemicals,
then machinery and later electronics.
Today knowledge and information
products and services play an
important and increasing role in the
Korean economy.
Korea divides its ICT sector into three
segments: Telecommunication
Services, Information Communication
Equipment and Software. The ICT
market accounted for US$ 103 billion
in 2001 (see Table 1.2). The share of
economy at a rate higher than other
sectors. ICT contributed 50 per cent
of the growth in overall GDP in 2000.
Apart from the direct benefits to
people and companies, ICT has the
indirect benefit of contributing to
overall economic wealth and
employment. The ICT sector in Korea
employed 1.3 million people at the end
of 2000 and is forecast to grow around
fi v e p e r c e n t t h r o u g h 2 0 0 5 ,
compared to only two per cent for
overall employment.
Manufacturing has underpinned
Ko r e a ’s e c o n o m i c g r o w t h . T h e
manufacturing sector has
traditionally been dominated by large
chaebols that today are known
around the world (e.g., Samsung,
LG, Hyundai, etc.). 3 They produce
everything from television sets to
semiconductors to mobile phones.
W i t h i n t h e Ko r e a n I C T s e c t o r,
equipment forms the biggest market
segment, accounting for 74 per cent.
Exports make up 41 per cent of ICT

Table 1.2: Korea's ICT Sector

Production value of Korea's Information and Communication industry, US$ billion

1997 1998 1999 2000 2001

Information communication services 13 14 16 22 26

Information communication equipment 35 37 54 67 68
Communication equipment 10 9 12 14 13
Information equipment 5 5 8 12 10
Broadcasting equipment 0 1 0 1 1
Electronic components 19 23 33 40 43
Software 3 4 5 9 10
Total 51 54 75 97 103
Rate of increase 37% 6% 40% 29% 7%

Note: Converted to US$ at rate of 31 December 2001.

Source: KISDI.

3
Korea Internet Case Study

equipment production. Furthermore, Unlike other nations such as India

ICT products account for a third of
Korea’s total exports. The large
equipment industry and its export
orientation have a strategic impact on
Korea’s ICT sector. It helps explain
why Korea has been quick to exploit
new ICT technologies. First, they
create new domestic markets driving
demand for telecommunication
equipment to be produced by local
manufacturers. Second, they can give
Korea a strategic edge in high
technology exports. Instead of being
reliant on other nations, if Korea can
be among the first to develop and use
a new technology, its manufacturers
will gain experience that can then be
translated to higher exports. Korean
companies are already benefiting from
supplying the domestic broadband
market by winning export orders.4
One area where Korea does not have
an apparent advantage is software.
that are heavily promoting their
offshore software industry, Korea is
more focused on hardware. Korea
only accounted for 1.3 per cent of
the global software market in 2000
and runs a large trade deficit in that
c a t e g o r y. O n e d i s a d va n t a g e i s
language. Unlike India, which has a
strategic advantage by using English
in higher education, Korean is not a
global language. Nonetheless,
Ko r e a ’s s o f t w a r e i n d u s t r y a n d
exports have been growing. Indeed
software showed the highest rate of
growth among ICT market segments
in 2000. Furthermore, there are
certain niche markets, such as online
games, where Korea is taking a lead.
The Korean company, NCSoft, is
already the largest independent
online gaming company in the world.
Its popular Lineage game has some
two million users in Korea and is sold
in four other countries.

1
Korean Educational Development Institute. Let’s Learn about Korea. Seoul, 2002.
2
The OECD rankings are based on older data but it is unlikely that Korea’s position would have changed much.
See OECD. Measuring the ICT Sector. http://www.oecd.org/pdf/M00002000/M00002651.pdf.
3
Samsung had the world’s fastest growing brand image in 2001. See “The Best Global Brands.”
BusinessWeek. 5 August 2002. www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/02_31/b3794032.htm.
4
Samsung is the fourth largest ADSL manufacturer in the world. See Samsung. “Samsung is one of the world-
leading ADSL vendors.” Press Release. 9 February 2001.

4

2. ICT market
2.1 The end of circuit
switching?
Korea’s telecommunication history
began in August 1885 when a
telegraph line was installed between
Seoul and Inchon. The first
telephones were installed in 1902
and the first automatic exchange
introduced in 1935. Korea joined the
International Telecommunication
Union in 1952. By the end of the
1980s, Korea had achieved a high
level of universal service (see
Box 2.1). It signed the World Trade
Organization (WTO) agreement on
basic telecommunication services that
became effective in November 1997,
committing the country to
liberalization of its telecommunication
sector.
The nation’s historical operator is
Korea Telecom Corporation (KT). It
began as the government-owned
Korea Telecom Authority in January
1982. Its statute was changed in 1989
allowing it to be privatized and in
November 1993 the government
began selling its shares in the
company. Ten additional share sales
ensued over the next decade with the
final one in May 2002 when the
Table 2.1: Telephone service competition in Korea
Service
Local (1)
Domestic long distance (2)
International long distance (2)
Note: (1) in terms of subscribers. (2) in terms of revenue.
Source: KT.
2. ICT market
government fully divested itself of the
company.
Korea progressively liberalized its
telecommunication sector during the
1990s. The first market segment to
be opened was international long
distance with the entry of Dacom in
December 1991. Onse Telecom
entered the market in October 1997.
National long distance services were
opened to competition in January
1996 when Dacom extended its
services to this sector of the market
(followed by Onse in December 1999).
Finally, local telephone services were
opened in April 1999 with the entry
of Hanaro. This was notable as it
would prove to have a major impact
on Korea’s broadband development.
Though KT is still dominant, its market
share has dropped, particularly in
international long distance (see
Table 2.1).
The Ministry of Information and
Communications (MIC) is
responsible for telecommunication
and broadcasting policy and
regulation. This mandate also extends
to certain areas of information
technology. The MIC is active in
promoting and developing the
Year Korea Telecom
competition market share
was introduced 2001
1999 96.9%
1996 85.5%
1991 67.1%
5
Korea Internet Case Study
Box 2.1: The Republic of Korea's path to universal service
There are around a dozen developing economies
that have graduated to the ranks of the universally
served: 90 per cent or greater of households with
a telephone. How did they succeed in achieving
universal service? The composition of the group
tends to reinforce the importance of wealth as well
as highlight the advantage that small countries
have. All are high-income economies with GNP per
capita in the range of US$ 11’450 to US$ 23’790.
Hong Kong, China, for example, has a higher
GNP per capita than the United Kingdom. Several
are oil-rich states (Brunei, Kuwait, Qatar, United
Arab Emirates) and most are relatively small
(Bahrain; Cyprus; Hong Kong, China; Macao, China;
Malta, and Singapore).
Of these developing countries, the Republic of Korea
stands out. It has the largest land area of any
country in the group and has developed its economy
without the benefit of natural resources such as
oil. Until the 1960s, telephone services were mainly
used for political and military purposes. The
country’s rapid economic growth and consequent
rise in living standards led to a surge in demand
for telephone service in the 1970s. Waiting lists
grew and the backlog emerged as a social problem.
As a result, upgrading the telecommunication
network became a priority and a one-phone, one-
family policy was pursued. Korea Telecom was
separated from the Ministry of Communications in
1982 to give it more flexibility to eradicate the
waiting list. Investment was directed to rural areas
to minimize disparities with urban regions. Rural
areas were also targeted for the latest digital
Box Figure 2.1: The way to universal service in the Republic of Korea
Waiting list, percentage of households with telephone and telecom investment,
US$ billion, Republic of Korea
Strong growth…
Waiting list (000s) (left scale)
Households with telephone (%, right scale)
500 100
400 80
300 60
200 40
100 Waiting list 20
eliminated
0 0
1982 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92
Note: In the right chart, GFCF refers to Gross Fixed Capital Formation.
Source: ITU World Telecommunication Indicators Database.
6
technology because of the investment already made
in analogue telephone switches in cities. The
government also pushed the development of a
locally produced telephone exchange—the TDX—
to reduce dependency on foreign imports and
alleviate capacity limitations.
Tariffs were modified to enhance accessibility. The
number of local call areas was reduced from about
1’600 to about 150 and a national flat-rate usage
tariff became a policy goal. Installation charges were
standardized and used to reduce the gap within
the country by raising urban installation charges
and lowering rural ones.
Money for telecommunication investment was raised
from several sources. Various laws were established
to raise funds from bonds. Tariffs were structured
to maximize investment funding. Telecommu-
nications was given priority in the Fifth Five-Year
Socio-Economic Development Program (1982–86),
rising from less than three per cent of total national
investment in the 1970s up to seven per cent in
the 1980s.
Because of these policies, the country achieved
rapid telecommunication growth through the 1980s.
Household telephone penetration increased from
21 per cent in 1980 to 90 per cent by 1990.
Domestic and international pressure to open the
telecommunication market began to grow in the
1990s. As in many developed countries, a high level
of universal service has allowed the Republic of
Korea to progressively liberalize its
telecommunication market.
…funded by network investment
Telecom investment (US$ b) (left scale)
As % of GFCF (right scale)
$3.5 8%
$3.0 7%
$2.5 6%
5%
$2.0
4%
$1.5
3%
$1.0 2%
$0.5 1%
$- 0%
198283 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92

communication industry in Korea. One
tool it has had at its disposal is
requiring telecommunication
operators to contribute to government
programmes for industry
development. Unlike other countries,
this money is reinvested in the
telecommunication sector instead of
being transferred to other areas of the
government.
Korea’s telecommunication market is
arguably as open as any in the Asia-
Pa c i f i c r e g i o n . M a r ke t e n t r y i s
contingent upon government
approval and essentially depends on
the nature of the service provider.
Three different classifications exist:
(1) Network Service Provider (NSP)
who build their own facilities and
which requires a license; (2) Specific
Service Provider (SSP), such as
resellers, who use the facilities of
others and which requires
registration; and (3) Value-added
Service Providers (VSP), such as
Internet Service Provider (ISP),
which requires a simple notification.
Though Korea’s telecom market is
probably as liberal as any in the Asia-
Pacific region, most companies would
have little incentive for entering
infrastructure-based segments. First,
the market is already well served with
high penetration levels. Second,
revenues and profits are declining for
traditional circuit-switched voice
services (see Figure 2.1, left chart).
Except for KT and one of the mobile
operators, none of Korea’s facilities-
based telecommunication providers
made a profit in 2001. Third, Korea is
inadvertently transitioning to a next-
generation network whose eventual
structure is uncertain.
The rapid take-up of broadband has
radically altered conventional network
thinking and evolution. By June 2002,
there were some 10 million
subscribers with a broadband
connection. There is now a need to
offer subscribers increasingly higher
bandwidth by locating fiber optic cable
closer to the end user. KT plans to offer
Very high bit rate Digital Subscriber
Line (VDSL) services (at up to 26
Mbps) over the next few years and
7
2. ICT market
move aggressively into fiber-to-the-
home by 2005 (i.e., replace copper
lines with fiber) (see Figure 2.2). It
forecasts some 5.6 million broadband
subscribers of its own by 2003 (out of
a nationwide total of 11.9 million).
Faced with intense competition from
new broadband providers, KT
abandoned Integrated Services Digital
Networks (ISDN) as its strategy for
data communications over circuit
switched telephone networks. This
was a significant move since in other
countries, operators have been
unwilling to rapidly introduce high-
speed Asymmetric Digital Subscriber
Line (ADSL) technologies or price it
competitively for fear of cannibalizing
their lucrative ISDN and leased line
offerings. The attraction of ADSL for
KT was that it could leverage its
already installed copper lines.
Furthermore the economics were
compelling. Average Revenue Per User
(ARPU) is seven times higher with
ADSL than for local and long distance
voice telephone calls. The pay back
period for the ADSL investment is also
fairly quick at a little over a year. At
the end of 2001, revenues from
broadband connection services
accounted for eight per cent of total
telecommunication revenues, a higher
share than long distance.
Furthermore, local circuit-switched
telephone services have seen their
share of telecommunication revenue
decline from one quarter in 1997 to
11 per cent by 2001. By 2005,
broadband access revenues are
forecast to surpass those of local
telephone service.
ADSL traffic is separated from circuit-
switched traffic and routed over
Internet Protocol (IP) networks. At the
same time, Voice over Internet
Protocol (VoIP) is increasingly being
used in Korea and bundled into
broadband offerings by operators. The
Korean VoIP market is expected to
grow around 50 per cent between
2000 and 2005 while conventional
circuit-switch telephone conversations
will show no growth. Thus an
increasing portion of Korea’s
communication traffic is traversing IP
networks and not the circuit- switched
Korea Internet Case Study

Figure 2.1: Network transition

Distribution of telecommunication market revenue by segment and percentage of telephone lines
connected to digital exchanges and percentage of households with broadband access

Share of revenue Mobile 100%

100% Other 90%
Broadband Internet 80%
80% Leased Circuit
International 70%
60% Long-distance 60% % telephone lines
Local 50% connected to
40% 40% digital
30% exchanges
20% 20% % broadband households
10%
0% 0%
'97 '98 '99 '00 '01 '02 '03 '04 '05 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

Source: KISDI, ETRI.

network. It is only a matter of time telephone network. Ironically, though

before the packet-switched network
will replace the conventional
telephone network.
Broadband Internet access and
growth of IP-related services is having
a great impact on the technical
evolution of the Korean fixed
Korea has one of the lowest levels of
local telephone line digitization—only
87.5 per cent in December 2001, one
of the lowest in the world1 —it is at
the same time moving towards a next
generation communication network.
Indeed by the time it would have
probably connected all its local

Figure 2.2: More and more bandwidth

Evolution of KT's access network

Source: KT.

8

telephone lines to digital exchanges,
they may not be around any more.
2.2 Another broadband path
to the home
Cable television has been available in
Korea since the 1960s. However, these
so called cable-relay networks simply
provided retransmission of terrestrial
stations in order to improve reception.
True cable television, that is the
provision of additional programming not
available on terrestrial-based stations,
started relatively late, in March 1995.
Korea’s cable industry has a
fragmented structure with exclusive
licenses awarded on a regional basis.
77 regional system operators provide
service and deal with customers. The
electricity company—KEPCO—and KT
were charged with building fibre
backbones, which the system
operators in turn lease to connect their
networks to the source of
programming. Pay cable television has
not proven highly popular in Korea
Table 2.2: Korean mass media indicators
Indicator Value Year
Newspaper circulation 40.6% 1996
Radio sets 47.5 million 1997
-Per 100 inhabitants 103.9
% of households with a television 94.3% 2000
Households passed by cable television 8.3 million 2001
-As % of total households 57%
Subscribers to “relay” cable television 7.0 million 2001
-As % of total households 43%
Subscribers to “pay” cable television 3.3 million 2001
-As % of total households 20%
Cable modem subscribers 3.7 million 2002
Source: ITU adapted from sources shown under “Note.”
9
2. ICT market
despite the limited number of
terrestrial-based channels and the
lack of satellite television. Only 20 per
cent of homes subscribed at the end
of 2001. One reason is that relatively
inexpensive alternatives such as
videotapes and Digital Video Discs are
widely available.
The development of cable television
infrastructure has provided Korea with
another method for high speed Internet
access. Some 8.3 million Korean
homes—57 per cent of the total—are
passed by cable television.2 Internet
access via cable television was launched
by Thrunet in July 1998. At
December 2002, there was 3.7 million
subscribers to broadband cable modem
services. The market leader is Thrunet;
in addition, there are five other cable
modem providers. Unlike most other
countries, cable ISPs are not system
operators. They either build out a Hybrid
Fibre Coaxial (HFC) cable network or
lease it from system operators. Thrunet
for example collaborates with 74 of
77 system operators to provide its cable
Note
Population aged 15+ who read
newspaper every day. Source:
National Statistical Office.
Source: UNESCO.
Colour TV less than 30 inches.
Source: National Statistical
Office.
Source: Thrunet.
Source: Korean Broadcasting
Comission.
Source: MIC.
Source: MIC.
Korea Internet Case Study
modem service. It reimburses them a
portion of the fees it receives from cable
modem service. Pricing is competitive with
ADSL service. Thrunet charges a monthly
fee of Won 38’000 (US$ 28.93), which
includes unlimited access, an e-mail
account, 50 Mbps of storage and speeds
of up to 10 Mbps.
2.3 Broadening Internet
2.3.1 Market
With 26.3 million users at the end of
2002, Korea represents the world’s
fifth largest Internet market
(Figure 2.3, left). Its Internet
penetration rate, 55.2 per cent at end
of 2002, makes it the third highest in
the world (Figure 2.3, right). These
are astounding statistics considering
that five years previously, it had less
than a million Internet users for a
penetration rate of 1.6 per cent.
Furthermore, the growth came at a
time of a severe economic downturn.
What explains this dramatic
turnaround?
First, the statistics are a bit
misleading. While Korea’s Internet
user population has grown
dramatically, it has had a high level of
subscribers to non-Internet online
services for sometime. For example
in 1996, it had 1.7 million subscribers
to so-called PC-based services
Figure 2.3: Top Internet countries
Top five countries by number of Internet users, 2002 and top five countries by
Internet users per 100 persons, 2002
Top 5 countries by number of Internet
users, 2002, million
USA 155
Japan 57
China 48
Germany 35
Korea 26
Source: ITU World Telecommunication Indicators database.
10
compared to just 0.7 million Internet
users. This anomaly is explained by
demand for Korean content. Internet
content in Korean was lacking so users
utilized the services of proprietary
online services that provided a
plethora of services in a language they
understood. Koreans were wary of
venturing into the Internet world,
where most content was in English and
there was a lack of structure to finding
information. As the volume of Korean
Internet content expanded—reflected
by a six-fold rise in Korean Internet
hosts between 1996 and 2001—users
moved over to the Internet
(Figure 2.4, left). Most online
providers have now converted to web-
based services.
A second factor driving Internet use
was the growth in broadband access.
When broadband launched, it came
with Internet access. Since the
launch of broadband Internet access
in July 1998, the number of
subscribers has risen to ten million
by the end of 2002. Most services
that needed broadband access such
as audio and video streaming,
gaming and e-commerce were only
available on the Internet so this
created many new Internet users.
Today 78 per cent of Internet users
log in via a broadband connection
(Figure 2.4, right).
Top 5 countries by Internet penetration,
2002
Iceland 61%
Sweden 57%
Korea 55%
USA 54%
Netherlands 53%
 2. ICT market

Figure 2.4: Internet drivers: Content and Broadband

Number of .KR hosts and type of access

Number of .KR hosts Type of Internet Connection, 2002

694
Thousands

548 CATV Dial-up Other

461 10% 2% 2%
Leased
line
18%
203
131
73 xDSL
68%

1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001

Source: KRNIC.

Box 2.2: One big Intranet?

Korea is an exception to the argument that limited
English fluency or non-Latin character alphabets
are barriers to Internet access. The development
of Korean content has been astounding and today
the nation has one of the highest usage ratios of
home grown content. The top 10 web sites accessed
by Korean users are all in Korean. The number of
domains registered using .KR—almost exclusively
in the Korean language—ranks the nation fifth in
the world.6 Not only has this driven use, but it has
also reduced the need for expensive international
circuits. It also suggests that in many ways the
Internet in Korea is actually one big Intranet with
most users preferring to access local sites.
Korea’s top web site is Daum, a start-up company
founded in 1995. In 1997, it began operating a
web-based email service filling a void created by
the slowness of Korea’s proprietary online services
to provide Internet-based content. In 1999, this
budding dot-com went public with an offering on
the Korean venture capital stock exchange
(KOSDAQ). The number of its users grew from
5.7 million at the end of 1999 to 19.6 million at
the end of 2002. Some 90 per cent of all Korean
Internet users log onto Daum, ranking it first.
Around 450 million pages of Daum’s content is
viewed on an average day. Daum ranks tops in
pages per user and session time in the world. Daum
is really not much different than other portals except
that its business model works. It offers familiar
portal content: e-mail, instant messaging, news,
information, shopping, music, videos, etc and
makes money from advertising, e-commerce
transactions and members-only portions of its site.
But what allows it to earn money is that it is Korean.
Few Koreans surf abroad because of the lack of
Korean content and lack of ease with English. So
Daum has just been better than other Korean
portals in attracting customers.

2.3.2 Connectivity in this category. The country is criss-

Korea’s local, national and
international Internet connectivity is
both qualitatively and quantitatively
substantial. Its Internet network today
is very different from its initial
connectivity to the global network by
way of a 56 kbps link to the United
States in 1991. Today, the majority
of Korean users access the Internet
via broadband and it leads the world
crossed by several nationwide, gigabit
fibre-optic backbones operated by
telecommunication operators,
Internet providers and the electric
company. International connectivity
has been growing rapidly over the last
several years.
Until the mid-1990s, there was no
national Internet exchange in Korea

11
Korea Internet Case Study
Box 2.3: Broadband drivers
43 per cent of the Republic of Korea’s households
had a broadband Internet connection at March
2002, the highest ratio in the world. Korea’s high
broadband penetration can be attributed to the
following factors:
Geography. 80 per cent of Korea’s population lives
in urban areas. Though this figure is not as high as
island economies such as Hong Kong, China or
Singapore, Korea’s urban geography is dense,
simplifying broadband access.3 Apartments account
for 48 per cent of Korea’s housing stock and provide
dwelling for 40 per cent of its population. Another
factor is the proximity of telephone exchanges. The
average distance of a customer from a telephone
exchange is 2.2 kilometres, with 95 per cent of
customers within four kilometres, the target range
of ADSL.
Competition. Consumer broadband access in Korea
began in July 1998 with the launch of cable modem
service by Thrunet. The introduction of local loop
competition with the entry of Hanaro Telecom in
April 1999 further fuelled the broadband market.
With most Koreans already subscribing to
incumbent Korea Telecom, the market was saturated
for traditional telephone service. In addition, local
Korea 43%
Hong Kong,
36%
China
Taiwan,
31%
China
Singapore 20% Percentage of
households with
Japan 16% broadband, 2002
Government support. The government has
facilitated broadband development through an early
commitment to high-speed infrastructure with specific
programs. This has included a positive and supportive
relationship with the private sector, low interest loans
and a certification program for apartment complexes
with high-speed access (for more detail on the
government’s support see Box 3.1).
Equipment. Korea’s manufacturing industry has
been an advantage with local suppliers eager to
get into the ADSL market. 4 This has minimized
shortages and helped keep equipment prices low.
12
loop unbundling was not implemented. Hanaro also
faced barriers that discouraged KT customers from
switching network providers. This included no
number portability and users having to pay a higher
connection and subscription charge if they switched
to Hanaro and later reconnected to Korea Telecom.
One way for Hanaro to break into the market was
to offer a broadband Internet access service. This
exploited KT’s unwillingness to enter the ADSL
market due to its large investment in ISDN. Faced
with a declining market share, KT entered the ADSL
market in June 1999. At October 2001, there were
seven companies providing broadband Internet
access service. Competition among broadband
technologies has also grown the market through
greater choice and lower pricing. ADSL is readily
available to the 90 per cent of Korean households
with a fixed telephone line. Some 57 per cent of
Korean homes are passed by cable television,
providing them with another broadband option
through cable modem. In addition, there are other
broadband options such as Local Area Networks
(LAN), broadband Wireless Local Loop (WLL) and
satellite-delivered solutions. As a result of both
market and technological competition, prices are
among the lowest in the world (see right chart
below).
SingTel
111
(Singapore)
Telstra
(Australia)
53
BellSouth
50
(USA)
BT (UK) 41
Monthly ADSL
PCCW (HK,
38 subscription
Ch.)
charge, 2002,
Telecom (N.
Zeal.)
34 US$
Hanaro (Korea
Rep.)
30
A growing number of subscribers created economies
of scale, which also reduced equipment prices. KT’s
ADSL equipment purchase cost per line dropped
from US$ 574 in 1999 to US$ 132 in 2001.5
Mentality. Though more difficult to measure, it is
widely agreed that Korean “mentality” is also a key
factor. Many Korean Internet users first got a taste
of high-speed access at Internet cafés (so-called
“PC bangs”) and subsequently wanted the same
rapidity at home. There is also a “copy-cat”
syndrome; once one person gets something
everyone else wants it, too.

Figure 2.5: Internet exchanges and international bandwidth
Korea's national Internet exchanges and international Internet bandwidth (Mbps)
Korea's international Internet
bandwidth (Mbps)
3 3
May- 1995 1996
95
Note: In the right chart, data is for three facilities-based operators.
Source: ITU adapted from KRNIC, NCA.
a n d d o m e s t i c t ra f f i c b e t w e e n
different ISPs was routed abroad.
The National Computerization
Agency led the drive to establish a
public exchange, the Korean Internet
Exchange (KIX) in 1995.6 However,
traffic soon exceeded capacity. This
led to the Korean Internet Neutral
Exchange (KINX) in June 1999. In
addition, Korea Telecom and Dacom
have established exchanges, KTIX
a n d D I X r e s p e c t i v e l y. A l l f o u r
exchanges are inter-connected (see
Figure 2.5, left) and most ISPs
connect with each other through the
exchanges rather than private
peering arrangements.
Korea’s international Internet
connectivity has expanded
tremendously and stood at 5.2 Gbps
at December 2001 (Figure 2.5, right).
It has benefited from its proximity to
the sea and hence fibre-optic
submarine cables (it is connected to
around ten different systems).
2.3.3 Pricing
The most relevant data to use for
comparing Korea’s Internet pricing
are rates for broadband access (e.g.,
DSL and cable modem) since the
majority of Koreans connect to the
Internet in this way. In that regard,
13
2. ICT market
6’743
2’623
661
20 116 202
Mar- 1998 1999 2000 2001
98
Ko r e a h a s a m o n g t h e l o w e s t
broadband Internet prices in the
world. Broadband pricing is flat rate
and compared to other countries, the
bandwidth on offer is above average.
Broadband pricing is uniform across
providers in Korea. Most packages
are around US$ 30 per month. The
variations depend on the amount of
bandwidth. One plan offered by
Thrunet proposes users a lower price
(US$ 26 per month) in exchange for
receiving e-mail advertisements.
Dial-up Internet prices are not so
r e l e va n t c o n s i d e r i n g t h a t m o s t
subscribers now use broadband. One
important motive for switching to
flat-rate broadband is to avoid the
local telephone charge imminent
with dial-up subscriptions. A dial-up
Internet subscriber must pay local
t e l e p h o n e c h a r g e s o f 3 9 Wo n
(3 US cents) per unit (three minutes
during peak times and 4.3 minutes
in off-peak periods). By contrast, an
entry plan ADSL subscription costs
30’000 Won (US$ 22.84). After
30 hours of monthly use, it is
cheaper to switch from dial-up to
broadband access in Korea. With the
a v e r a g e Ko r e a n I n t e r n e t u s e r
logging on for some 40 hours a
month, it is no surprise that so many
have switched to broadband access.7
Korea Internet Case Study
Leased lines also are being impacted
by consumer broadband technologies.
Former users of ISDN or other low
bandwidth leased line services are
switching to ADSL and cable modem.
Only users with very high bandwidth
requirements (above eight Mbps) are
continuing to lease lines in the
conventional sense.
2.3.4 Domain
The Korea Network Information
Center (KRNIC) is responsible for
administering Korea’s .KR domain
name. Korea uses second level
domain names based on five common
identifiers depending on the type of
organization. In addition, users can
select the PE or personnel second level
domain name. There are also
16 regional domains used by different
regions in Korea (see Figure 2.6).
Charges are KRW 11’000 (US$ 8.36)
per year for personal users and 22’000
for organizations. A person or
organization must have an address in
Korea to register a domain name.
Furthermore, businesses require a
certification.
KRNIC’s domain name registration is
just one small part of its activities. It
is also involved in research and
development, industry promotion as
well as compiling information about
Figure 2.6: Korea's domain name structure
Source: KRNIC.
14
the Internet in Korea.
2.3.5 Regulation
Korean government involvement in
the Internet is oriented towards
consumer protection and reducing the
Digital Divide. Entry into the ISP
market is straightforward. As value-
added service providers, ISPs must
simply notify the government that
they want to go into business. An ISP
must lease facilities from licensed
infrastructure providers or obtain their
own facilities-based license.
2.4 Mobile Communications
2.4.1 Mobile market players
Although Korea’s success in
broadband networks and services has
stolen the headlines, mobile
communications development has
proved almost as successful. Korea
was relatively slow to introduce digital
services, and when it did so it opted
for the CDMA standard rather than the
more widely used GSM. 8
Nevertheless, Korea now has one of
the highest levels of mobile
penetration in the world. Korea was
one of the first countries in the Asia-
Pacific region where mobile phone
users overtook fixed-line subscribers,
an event that happened in
October 1999. Subsequently, mobile

penetration has continued to grow.
Korea overtook Australia, Japan and
New Zealand in terms of mobile
penetration during the late 1990s and
is today ranked fourth in the region
(Figure 2.7, left chart). As of the end
of 2002, there were some 32.3 million
mobile subscribers compared with just
23.3 million fixed-line users.9
The evolution of mobile in Korea has
gone through three distinct phases
(see Figure 2.8):
• 1984-1994: between the launch
of Korea Mobile Telecommunica-
tion Service’s (KMTS) analogue
cellular service in 1984, as a sub-
sidiary of Korea Telecom, and the
sale of the company to SK Group
in 1994. 10 During this period
KMTS, which now trades as SK
Telecom, enjoyed a monopoly in
the provision of cellular services.
By 1995, cellular penetration
rates had reached only two sub-
scribers for every 100 inhabit-
ants, one of the lowest levels
among the advanced Asia-Pacific
economies.
• 1995-2000: between the launch
of CDMA digital voice services
(IS-95A) in January 1996 and the
launch of CDMA2000 1x, in Oc-
Figure 2.7: Catching up and overtaking
Cellular mobile penetration in Korea, compared with other Asia-Pacific economies, 2002 and with
Australia, Japan and New Zealand, 1995-2002
Japan 62.1 Cellular 70
subscribers
60
New Zealand 62.2 per 100
inhabitants 50
Macao, China 63.1
year-end 2002
40
Australia 66.6
30
Korea (Rep. of) 67.9
20
Singapore 77.9
10
Hongkong, China 91.8
0
Taiwan, China 106.4
Source: ITU World Telecommunication Indicators Database.
2. ICT market
tober 2000 (although commer-
cial services only arrived a few
months later). During this period,
penetration grew rapidly to cross
the symbolic 50 lines per 100 in-
habitants. Few countries have
transformed their mobile com-
munication sectors so rapidly.
This period saw the introduction
of four new operators all using
CDMA: Shinsegi Telecom
(800 MHz) and three Personal
Communication Services (PCS)
operators at 1.8 GHz: Korea
Telecom Freetel (now KTF); LG
Telecom and Hansol (later
M.Com).
• 2001 to date: corresponds with
somewhat slower growth in the
number of mobile voice subscrib-
ers, as the market approaches
saturation. Instead the focus has
shifted to the development of
mobile data applications.
CDMA2000 1x mobile data serv-
ices were launched in Octo-
ber 2000, CDMA2000 1x EV-DO
in May 2002 and services in the
IMT-2000 2.1 GHz band (for an
explanation of the different
terms, see Box 2.4) were li-
censed in December 2000 for
launch in 2003. This period also
has seen a consolidation in the
Cellular subscribers per
100 inhabitants
1995-2002
Korea
Japan Australia
New Zealand
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002
15
Korea Internet Case Study

Figure 2.8: Mobile evolution in Korea

Cellular subscribers per 100 inhabitants, compared with fixed-line teledensity and
tracked against major landmarks in the development of the sector

Penetration rate of fixed and mobile, Mobile evolution in Korea (cellular density)
per 100 inhabitants 70
70 Jan 2002: SK Telecom
60 merges with Shinsegi
60
50 Jan 1996:
50 Fixed telephone lines May 2001:
40 commercial
40 KTF created
CDMA service
30 thru merger
30 Mobile start
overtakes 20
20 1994: KMTC Dec 2000: IMT-
Mobile cellular fixed in Oct.
10 sold to SK 2000 licences
10 subscribers 98 Group awarded
0 0
1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002

Source: ITU World Telecommunication Indicators Database and case study research.

number of operators, with SK services (in 1984, as Korean Mobile

Telecom acquiring Shinsegi and
KT Freetel acquiring Hansol to
become KTF.
Although the IMT-2000 licenses in the
2.1 GHz band introduces some new
investors, it effectively locks in this
three-company market structure.
There are linkages between the three
different operators both at a horizontal
level and through vertical integration
with the activities of different chaebol
and equipment manufacturers. The
recent acquisition by SK Telecom of
an 11 per cent stake (the biggest
single shareholding) in KT further
complicates competition policy issues
that are raised by the market
structure. Figure 2.9 attempts to
summarise the status as of May 2002
with regard to cross-ownership, but
the situation remains a dynamic one,
subject to change.
2.4.1.1 SK Telecom
SK Telecom < www.sktelecom.com>
is currently the major player in the
Korean mobile market with a 53 per
cent market share, as of December
2002 and net income in 2001 of
Wo n 1 . 1 b i l l i o n Wo n ( U S $ 8 6 8
million) on a turnover of
Won 6.2 trillion (US$ 5 billion). SK
Telecom was the first company in
Korea to offer analogue mobile
Telecommunication Services) and
also the first to offer digital CDMA
services (in 1996, after its
acquisition by the SK Group).
SK Telecom is considered by the
Ministry of Information and
Communication (MIC) to be the
dominant mobile operator, and for
this reason its prices are regulated.
In January 2002, it completed the
takeover of Shinsegi Telecom, its
leading competitor in the CDMA 800
MHz field. In order to satisfy MIC
requirements for allowing the
acquisition, SK Telecom had to
reduce its combined market share to
below 50 per cent. This they did for
one month (June 2001) by a process
they called demarketing (getting rid
of their least profitable subscribers
and not advertising for new ones).
Subsequently, market share has
started to grow again.
SK has investments in several Asian
economies, including Mongolia
(SkyTel) and Uzbekistan and most
recently they have gained a CDMA
license to operate in Viet Nam
( S Te l e c o m ) a n d i n C a m b o d i a .
SK Telecom also has technology
sharing agreements with China
U n i c o m a n d Pe l e p h o n e ( I s ra e l )
related to CDMA technology.

16
 2. ICT market

SK Telecom was the first in the world Like its rival, SK Telecom, KTF has its
to offer mobile data services over its roots in Korea Telecom, which owns a
standard CDMA network (IS-95). In 40 per cent stake. This came about
October 2000, it launched its through KT FreeTel, which merged
CDMA2000 1x service, under the with M.Com (now KTM.Com) in May
brand name Nate, and in 2001. KTF has a CDMA licence to
January 2002 it commercialized its operate in the 1’800 MHz band.
CDMA2000 1x EV-DO (1x Evolution,
data optimized) service. As of KTF claims that it was the first to
December 2002, it had 14.8 million introduce segmented marketing to the
wireless Internet-enabled handsets in Korean market. Among the different
use and 8.4 million regular Nate users segments it identifies and targets are:
(defined as using the service at least up to age 13 (Kid’s market); 13-
once a month). 18 year-olds (Bigi); 18-25 year-olds
(Na); 25-35 year olds (Main); older
2.4.1.2 KTF age groups (silver market); women
KTF <www.ktf.co.kr> is the second (Drama) and corporate sector (Viz).
largest mobile network operator with Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) is
a 32 per cent market share in highest in the “Main” group, but
December 2002 and a turnover of mobile Internet usage is highest
Won 4.49 trillion (US$ 3.7 billion). among the Na and Bigi groups.

Figure 2.9: How are they related?

Selected links between fixed-line, mobile and IMT-2000 operators in the Korean market, May 2002

Fixed-line
SK Group, a major Other KT (Korea Telecom), LG Group, major telecom operators
chaebol with diverse corporate incumbent fixed-line operator equipment manufacturer and
interests investors with 97% market share in basic chaebol
Retains 26.6%
Owns voice services & 49% in BT, UK
Controlling interest, ownership
7% broadband incumbent
acquired since 1994 Other operator
KT and SKT each own DACOM, corporate
Hanaro, Acquired ownership stake
around 11% of each int’l carrier investors
broadband carrier (now 21.7% ) in 1998
other
Owns
40% stake
SK Telecom KTF LG Telecom

SK Telecom (created in KT Freetel (created in LG Telecom (created in

1994 as KMTS), with 53% 1997), with 33% market 1996), with 14% market
market share and a licence share and a licence to share and a licence to
to operate CDMA services operate CDMA services at operate CDMA services at
at 900 MHz. 1’800 MHz. 1’800 MHz.

Shinsegi Telecom acquired KT M.Com (created as

by SK Telecom in January Hansol DACOM) and
CDMA
2000 merged KT Freetel in May Mobile
2001). operators

SK IMT, awarded a wideband KTI.com, awarded a wideband LG TeleCom , awarded a

CDMA licence in Dec. 2000.
Ownership consortium has 783
members, led by SK
Telecom/Shinsegi and POSCO.
CDMA licence in Dec. 2000.
Ownership consortium has 636
members led by KT and KTF.
CDMA2000 licence in August
2001. Ownership consortium has
1’049 members led by LG Group,
and including Hanaro and
DACOM.
IMT-2000
operators

Note: Only selected ownership links are shown and these are subject to change.
Source: ITU Korea case study research.

17
Korea Internet Case Study
Like SK Telecom, KTF records wireless
Internet users as all those that have
suitably equipped handsets. This
amounts to 10.2 million in
December 2002, of which 4.9 million
are CDMA2000 1x users.
2.4.1.3 LG Telecom
LG Telecom <www.lg019.co.kr/english>
is the third mobile operator, with a
market share of 15 per cent in
December 2002. As its name suggests,
it is part of the LG Corporation with LG
holding a 36 per cent share and BT of
the UK a further 17 per cent (though it
is reportedly looking to sell this stake).
LG missed out on the consolidation that
has taken place in the mobile market
since the year 2000; being neither
acquired not acquiring. It also missed
out on the W-CDMA licences for IMT-
2000, but has a CDMA-2000 licence in
the 2.1 GHz band.
LG relies heavily on its sister companies
for distribution. These include, for
instance, gas stations and
supermarkets. It has a 1’800 MHz PCS
licence, which it markets under the
brand name “PCS 019”. As of
December 2002, LG Telecom had
3.5 million wireless Internet users and
1.7 million CDMA2000 1x users.
2.4.1.4 IMT-2000 players
There are three IMT-2000 licensees
in Korea. As shown in Figure 2.9, they
are each aligned with one of the
existing mobile operators and also
with fixed-line operators, chaebol and
other investors. Indeed, each IMT
licensee is really a consortium rather
that a single company and the
consortia have 783 (SK IMT),
636 (Kti.Com) and 1’049 (LG
Telecom) members respectively.
The licensing of IMT-2000 proceeded
in two stages. Consortia led by the
two major mobile operators were
initially awarded two W-CDMA
licences, in December 2000, at a cost
of around US$ 1 billion each, through
a hybrid beauty contest/auction. The
unsuccessful bidders in this round
included LG Telecom (the third mobile
operator) and Hanaro Telecom (a
broadband network operator). A
consortium including these two
18
companies was later awarded a
CDMA2000 licence in August 2001, for
which it paid around US$ 900 million.
In terms of commercial services, it is
not expected that IMT-2000 services
in the 2.1 GHz band will be available
until the second half of 2003. By then,
it is likely that the commercially
available alternative CDMA2000 1x
EV-DO service will have stolen a
march on the market and it may be
difficult for W-CDMA to make up the
lost ground.
2.4.2 Mobile data
2.4.2.1 What makes Korea
different?
In some ways, Korea is ahead of the
rest of the world in mobile data. Korea
probably has a higher penetration of
users of high-speed mobile Internet
service than any other country in the
world. But, on the other hand, until
recently Korean mobile operators
generated a lower percentage of their
revenue from non-voice services than
other operators, for instance in Europe
or Japan (see Figure 2.10). How can
this apparent contradiction be
explained?
One reason is because of the particular
Korean way of counting mobile data
users. As no subscription payments
are required, the number of
subscribers recorded are those that
have suitably-equipped handsets. So,
as most Korean subscribers like to
have the most up-to-date terminals,
the recorded number of mobile data
users is high. On the other hand, short
message service, which provides the
bulk of non-voice revenue for mobile
operators in the GSM world, is
relatively modest in Korea. For
instance, SK Telecom reports that on
basic second generation (2G) SMS-
enabled handsets, average revenue
per user (ARPU) from mobile data is
only 1’756 Won (around US$ 1.40) per
month. In Europe, SMS generates
many times this level of revenue.
But the signs are that the situation is
changing. Mobile data ARPU from
CDMA2000 1x subscribers is more
than twice the level of that from basic
2G users, and for CDMA2000 1x

Box 2.4: 1x, 1x EV-DO, IMT-2000: What's the difference?
The mobile world is currently moving from second
generation (2G) standards to a 2.5G world —with
many competing standards— to a third generation
(3G) world in which the IMT-2000 family of
standards will provide for higher data speeds.
For CDMA technologies, the 2G is known as
cdmaOne (or IS-95A) and 2.5G is known as IS-
95B. Third generation or IMT-2000 is known as
CDMA2000 1x (as shown below) with its evolved
technologies EV-DO and EV-DV.11 Different brands
of CDMA2000 1x use different browsers and, in
practice, are able to offer more than WAP/GPRS,
b o t h i n t e r m s o f s p e e d a n d f u n c t i o n a l i ty.
CDMA2000 1x offers a top speed of some
144 kbit/s whereas GPRS only goes as high as
115 kbit/s (in practice, neither technology has
achieved the full capacity under operational
conditions). Also, there are many colour handsets
Box Figure 2.4: One view of mobile data evolution
IS-41 CORE NETWORK
cdmaOne
IS-95B
cdmaOne
IS-95A
TDMA
GSM GPRS
GSM MAP CORE NETWORK
2G 2.5G
Source: ITU Internet Reports 2002: Internet for a Mobile Generation.
subscribers with a colour handset, the
level is higher still, at around
Won 7’000 (US$ 5.40) per month.
Furthermore, whereas only around
one third of ordinary 2G handsets are
used for SMS, some four-fifths of
2. ICT market
already available for CDMA2000 1x whereas
colour handsets for GPRS are still a rarity.
A second difficulty is to interpret where CDMA2000
1x EV-DO (1x evolution, data optimised) fits in. On
the basis of speed (up to 2.4 Mbit/s), it is
comparable with other 3G IMT-2000 standards, such
as W-CDMA. However, 1x EV-DO still uses
essentially the same circuit-switched technology as
ordinary CDMA subscribers (SK Telecom estimates
that only an extra US$ 20 per subscriber is needed
to move from CDMA2000 1x to 1x EV-DO) whereas
a separate 3G network would need to be constructed
at substantial additional cost.
The main advantage of 1x EV-DO is that it is available
now and is a logical evolution from products already
available on the market. However, the initial signs
are that take-up has been slow, compared to 1x.12
CDMA2000
1x EV-DO
CDMA2000 1X
CDMA2000
1xEV-DV
EDGE W-CDMA
3G
those with colour capability use data
facilities (see Figure 2.10). It appears
that the introduction of colour
handsets, which occurred after
September 2001, has been a major
factor in increasing the level of mobile
19
Korea Internet Case Study

Table 2.3: Implementations of mobile data services

Using examples from Korea, Japan and Europe (Switzerland)

Country Korea Japan Switzerland

Company SK Telecom KTF LG Telecom NTT DoCoMo Orange

Standard CDMA 1x CDMA 1x CDMA 1x i-mode GPRS
Speed Up to 144 kbit/s Up to 144 kbit/s Up to 144 kbit/s 9.6 kbit/s plus Up to 115 kbit/s
Brand name Nate MultiPack/Magic (n) EZWeb i-mode Orangeworld
Browser WAP BREW/Microsoft ME Microsoft ME i-mode WAP
Language WML C++/HDML M-HTML c-HTML WML

Source: ITU research.

Figure 2.10 Growing the mobile data market

SK Telecom's revenue from mobile data, as a percentage of total data (Jan 2001 - March 2002)
and by type of handset, March 2002 (in Won)

Mobile data revenue, per handset-type (Won) Mobile data revenue, as % of total revenue
8’000 8
% of users with 80% Introduction of
7’000 7
handset using colour handsets
6’000 mobile data 66% 6

5’000 services 5

4’000 4
47%
3
3’000 32%
2
2’000
1
1’000
0
0
Jan Mar May Jul Sep Nov Jan Mar
2G SMS 2G WAP 2.5G WAP 2.5G Colour 2000 2001

Source: ITU adapted from SK Telecom.

data ARPU. In September 2001, mobile Korea’s experience provides valuable

data ARPU contributed around 4.3 per
cent of total ARPU for SK Telecom, but
this had grown to 7.1 per cent by March
2002. Terms like 2.5G or CDMA2000
1x may seem like algebra to consumers;
but colour makes a very visible
difference (see Box 2.5: Handset wars).
Although colour does not necessarily
enhance the functionality, and may
actually reduce battery performance,
nevertheless the psychological impact
of colour of the user’s perception of the
mobile terminal seems to be extremely
positive.
insights into the demographics of the
mobile Internet marketplace (see
Figure 2.11).
• The first key message is that it
is the residential market, not the
business market, which is driv-
ing usage. Although service pro-
viders like SK Telecom recognise
business users as a specific mar-
ket segment, only half of them
use mobile data and their con-
tribution provides just two per
cent of total revenue.

20
 2. ICT market

Box 2.5: Handset wars

The Korean mobile market is different from that
of Europe in several ways. For instance, there
are few prepaid users, operators use a CDMA
platform but with calling party pays rather than
receiving party pays, and ring tones are positively
symphonic in comparison to those tinny jingles
heard in Europe. Another way in which Korea is
different is that the revenue the country derives
from equipment sales is far higher than that from
services sales. In 2000, for instance, info-
communication equipment production in Korea
amounted to US$ 67 billion compared with
services sales of just US$ 22 billion. A high
proportion of this comes from production, sales
and exports of mobile terminals (see 2.4.4). This
puts the equipment manufacturers, like LG,
Samsung, Daewoo or Hyundai, in a very strong
position.
Between 1996 and mid 1999, mobile handsets were
subsidised by some 4.9 trillion Won (US$ 4 billion)
by service providers. However, since June 2000,
handset subsidies have been officially banned in
Korea. During that month, handset sales fell to a
quarter of their former level, though they have
subsequently picked up again. Most other countries
either allow subsidies, or the problem does not arise
because competition in the services market is
insufficient to warrant subsidies. The fact that
subsidies are explicitly banned gives Korea’s mobile
industry a convenient excuse of explaining high
handset prices to consumers (i.e., blaming MIC).
The current market prices range:
• between US$ 250 - 500 for full-colour
CDMA2000 1x handsets;
• between US$ 200 – 250 for black & white
CDMA2000 1x handsets;
• between US$ 500 – 650 for EV-DO handsets.
Despite these relatively high prices, technophile
Koreans trade-up their handsets quite often with
colour driving the market. The price of a colour
screen, with high-speed Internet access, is shorter
battery life. It is common, in Korea, to see mobile
battery re-charging stations in supermarkets,
garages and other public places because of the
heavy usage of voice and data applications. As the
rest of the world catches up with Korea, this is one
area where Korean manufacturers already have a
head start.
Since the ban on handset subsidies, the major
manufacturers and the shift towards CDMA2000 1x,
the combined market share of the leading
companies, Samsung and LG, has risen from around
two thirds to three-quarters of all sales in the
domestic market. Exports have also become more
important, reaching an expected US$ eight billion
in 2002, which compensates for the fall in domestic
market sales. Imports remain minimal with sales
of just US$ 54 million expected in 2002.

Box Figure 2.5: Trends in sales

by Korean manufacturers of mobile handsets, 1998-2002, in US$ m, and
a sample Samsung mobile phone with colour screen

Korean sales of mobile handsets (US$m)

14’000
12’000 Domestic sales

10’000 Exports

8’000
6’000
4’000
2’000
0
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002

Source: Left chart: KISDI IT Outlook for Korea, 2002. Right photo: Michael Minges.

21
Korea Internet Case Study
Figure 2.11: Mobile data usage patterns
Data from SK Telecom on average revenue per user (ARPU) by age group and breakdown of content use
Average revenue per user (ARPU),
'000 Won per month
50
40
61% 65% 65%
30
55%
50%
20 Data ARPU
Voice ARPU
10
% data users
0 34.2%
<19 20-24 25-29 30-39 40-49
Note: "Other" content, in right chart, includes news/sports (2.0%), e-books/education (0.6%) and e-
lottery/shopping (0.3%).
Source: SK Telecom.
• By contrast, teenagers are the
main market drivers. Although
teenagers have the second low-
est (after users aged over 50)
total ARPU, at just 33’000 Won
(US$ 27) per month, more than
a third of this is spent on data
applications. Data ARPU dimin-
ishes sharply with age, with 20-
24 year-olds spending less than
half as much as teenagers, de-
spite their greater spending
power, and by the age of thirty,
users are spending less than
US$ one per month on average
on data applications.
• The breakdown of content shows
that applications designed to ap-
peal to the teenage market, such
as download of ring tones or car-
toon animations, together with
games and entertainment, form
more than three-quarters of the
total.13 By contrast, information
services aimed at older age
groups, such as traffic informa-
tion or stock prices, occupy rela-
tively little space. Of course,
viewing the market by value,
rather than by volume may pro-
duce a different picture, but most
mobile content is available else-
Email/
chatting Other, 2.9%
Stocks/ 5.2%
banking
5.6%
Location/
Ringtone/
travel
51% picture
/traffic
39% download
7.2% Games/
44.9%
Mobile data entertain
ment
content
breakdown
>50 Corporate
(%), Dec. 01
where (for instance, over the
Internet).
• The usage breakdown contrasts
markedly with that of other coun-
tries. Compare with China, for
instance. There, the main mobile
data application is email (41 per
cent) followed by stock transac-
tions (16 per cent) and news
(12 per cent). These three cat-
egories account for two-thirds of
the market demand in China but
only 13 per cent in Korea. Of
course, it could be that, once
China acquires mobile data net-
works that run as fast as those
in Korea, then the two usage pat-
terns will converge, but the sus-
picion is that China is more
representative of mobile data us-
age in the wider, low-speed mar-
ket, and that it is Korea, with its
high-speed mobile networks,
which is currently unique but
may signal the future trend for
the high-speed mobile market.
2.4.2.2 Pricing mobile data
One of the most difficult-to-manage
aspects of the shift from voice to data
for mobile revenue is to get the pricing
right. A recent survey of 3’000 mobile
22

Internet users carried out by KRNIC
showed a relatively low level of
satisfaction with the price of the
service.14 Some 17 per cent of non-
mobile Internet users quoted high
prices as the reason they were not
using the service. 15 There are four
main elements to pricing data on a
mobile platform:
• The cost of subscription. Unlike
NTT DoCoMo’s service in Japan,
Korean operators do not charge
a subscription price for mobile
data.
• The cost for the volume of data
downloaded, normally measured
by packets of 512 bytes each.
• The cost of the content, which is
related to its perceived value and
timeliness.
In an era where technology transition,
from low to high-speed services, is
significant, service providers must
walk a fine line between pricing new
services too cheaply (and risk
undercutting older, better established
low speed data services) and pricing
them too expensively (and stifling the
market). Operators have thus tried to
differentiate their service offerings by
platform and by message type:
• Platform: SK Telecom, for in-
stance, recognizes five main plat-
forms for its NATE mobile data
service: mobile handsets, PCs,
PDAs (personal digital assist-
ants), vehicle-mounted terminals
and interactive televisions. For
each platform, the philosophy is
based on traffic causation, so
that PC service is designed for
sending and receiving messages
from mobile phones while the ve-
hicle-mounted service (Nate
drive) is intended as an online
service, getting data updates
constantly from the network,
rather than as a standalone serv-
ice using a CD-ROM, for instance.
• Message type: Currently, Ko-
rean operators recognize three
different message types for pur-
poses of pricing: Text messages,
23
2. ICT market
charged at 6.5 Won per packet
(97 kb for US$ one); Multimedia
messages, charged at 2.5 Won
per packet (250 kb per US$ one);
and audio/video on demand,
charged at 1.25 Won per packet
(0.5 Mb per US$ one), a price re-
duction of 50 per cent that was
approved by the MIC on
May 29 2002.
The current signs are that the price is
not yet quite right and continue to be
adjusted. The most popular mobile
data applications are those that can
be downloaded (e.g., ring tones and
games) and played offline rather than
those that require the user to be online
or the handset to be “always-on”.
Korean mobile operators are using a
business model which is very similar
to that used by NTT DoCoMo in Japan,
but without the subscription price for
data services. They are mainly offering
a “walled garden” type content model
with revenues split between content
provider and services provider in the
ration 90:10. KTF has more than
130 content providers and SK Telecom
more than 250. In theory, the content
providers should get 90 per cent of
any revenue raised from the sale of
content (a lower figure is applied for
streaming TV content). But in practice,
the majority of revenues (around
70 per cent) come from airtime (per
minute prices paid for using the mobile
phone). The operator retains all of this
revenue.
2.4.3 Applications
The major applications in use for
mobile data are those shown in
Figure 2.11, right chart and in
Figure 2.12. To a large extent this
usage pattern reflects the legacy of
slow-speed mobile Internet access
rather than any true 3G mobile
Internet usage. Carriers interviewed
during the research programme
admitted they were finding it hard to
persuade users to start paying for
content. This is especially a problem
in Korea, where the vast majority of
actual and potential mobile data users
probably already have an “always-on”
broadband connection at home, for
which they play a flat-fee for usage.
Korea Internet Case Study
So the challenge is to create
applications that are specific to mobile
phones, that are viable within the
bandwidth constraints of current
technology and that users are willing
to pay for. Here are some of the
applications that are currently being
tried.
• Video on demand. As Fig-
ure 2.12 suggests, the main dif-
ference in the most popular
services on 2G and 1x handsets
is video-on-demand. This is a
highly data intensive application,
and even with the newly reduced
rates for this service, download
of a music video clip could easily
cost US$ 2-3. The secret to driv-
ing this market therefore lies in
offering compelling and exclusive
content. An example is “mobile
drama”, or one-minute daily soap
operas. One way of reducing
costs is through Java-based soft-
ware “wavelets” that offer mul-
timedia content (e.g., cartoon
animations) at a lower level of
quality than high-resolution
MPEG-4 handsets. Because this
is software-driven, rather than
requiring a special chip, “wave-
let” handsets are much cheaper
than MPEG-4 ones. SK Telecom
reports that wavelet downloads
rose by 165 per cent between
January and March 2002 with
almost all the growth accounted
for by colour handsets.
• Music on demand. Closely re-
lated to video-on-demand is the
supply of MP3 music files. This
service is particularly popular on
mobile phone that are specially
adapted to this use (e.g., MPEG-4
compatible handsets with better
speakers, headphones etc). SK
Telecom reports that music
download accounts for 34 per cent
of data usage on MPEG-4 hand-
sets. Again, price sensitivity is a
barrier so the obvious route for-
wards would seem to be to encour-
age file-sharing (peer-to-peer,
P2P) applications that would al-
low users to download music files
without paying royalty fees to
copyright owners. The most popu-
24
lar P2P service in Korea is called
“Soribada” (www.soribada.com lit-
erally “sea of sound”), which is
sometimes referred to as the Ko-
rean Napster, though unlike
Napster it does not require a cen-
tral server. The legality of this
type of service is still doubtful
and the service providers are
awaiting guidance from MIC.
Soribada itself has only recently
reopened (in August 2002) after
having been shut down follow-
ing a dispute with the Korean
record music industry.
• Streaming TV. A variation on
video-on-demand is to offer tele-
vision channels, such as CNN,
delivered to a mobile handset. A
future variation on this theme is
to offer an interactive TV service
where by an ADSL subscriber
would be able to access mobile
data type-interfaces (e.g. SK
Telecom’s Nate) from an ordinary
TV screen, allowing for product
tie-ins (e.g. direct ordering of
products advertised on televi-
sion), or purchase of pay-per-
view events.
• In-car navigation systems.
Both SK Telecom (Nate Drive)
and KTF (Telematics, in conjunc-
tion with Daewoo and Hyundai)
offer vehicle-mounted terminals
that combine GPS functionality
with mobile data. The KTF sys-
tem, launched in March 2002, is
offered on a subscription-based
or a usage-based tariff. It offers
traffic news, entertainment/con-
tent and location information that
can be delivered directly to an
in-car dashboard or viewed from
a PC. The Nate Drive service,
launched in February 2002, of-
fers a specially adapted handset,
with GPS-built-in, that fits into a
cradle in the car that acts as a
display unit. There is a hot-but-
ton that links to an Internet navi-
gation portal. This portal can
then be voice activated and can
give voice signals on direction.
The driver’s position is updated
every 50 metres and this is
matched with GIS (Geographic

Figure 2.12: The top five most popular mobile data services on KTF's 2G and 1x services
May 2002
Source: KTF.
Information System) data. Users
pay a monthly subscription of
20’000 Won (US$ 16), plus call
fees. The cheapest package
would cost around 390’000 Won
or US$ 350 to install. SK Telecom
argue that having the service
online (rather than pre-recorded)
will make it more accurate for
things like traffic jams, but it will
obviously generate more user
fees. Because of the current limi-
tations with 1x EV/DO, it is not
possible to use the terminal for
incoming voice calls while it is
being used for receiving naviga-
tion information, but this prob-
lem should be addressed with 1x
EV/DV.
• Services to PDAs. Limitations
on the size of screens on mobile
handsets may limit their useful-
ness. Some users may instead
choose to use 1x EV/DO service
with a Personal Digital Assistant
(PDA). In May 2002, there were
two main wireless PDAs avail-
able, Compaq’s iPAQ and a locally
25
2. ICT market
manufactured JTEL, but others
are coming on to the market.
PDAs are particularly suitable for
downloading content from the
Web that can be later read, for
instance while commuting on the
metro. PDAs are also more suit-
able than handsets to operate as
an email client.
• Multimedia messaging serv-
ice (MMS). In Japan, where
KDDI using CDMA 1x technology
has reached over a million sub-
scribers within a few months of
launch, sending and receiving
still photos is proving to be the
killer application for mobile data,
especially among teenage users.
The service is catching on in Ko-
rea too. KTF’s Magic (n) “multi-
message” service offers
phone-to-phone, phone-to-email
and web-to-phone messaging.
However, Koreans seem to pre-
fer to send character animations
of themselves with accompany-
ing text, rather than real photos.
In the streets of Seoul, there are
Korea Internet Case Study
lots of boutiques offering to de-
velop a character animation of
clients, based on a photo, but
made to look more like a cartoon,
which can then be sent to a mo-
bile phone or to an email client.
• Fixed/wireless integration.
Wireless LANs are becoming big
business in Korea. There are
many coffee shops that already
offer wireless LANs as well as air-
ports, universities etc. The tel-
ecommunication service
providers are getting into the
game with subscription-based
services, such as KT’s Nespot
service, launched in May 2002.
Although this service is usually
accessed from PCs, there is
scope for offering a service, say
to PDAs, that would offer high-
speed access, via wireless LAN,
at hotspots, combined with
slower-speed access, via 1x or
1x EV/DO, when roaming. All of
the operators are developing
service offerings. KT has been
working with McDonalds, while
SK Telecom has been working
with Starbucks and Sheraton to
develop pilot services. KTF’s N-
Zone service additionally offers
Voice over IP (VoIP) service for
cut-price calls to mobiles.
• Mobile/Internet numbering
integration. One specific appli-
cation, currently unique to Ko-
rea, is to provide integration of
the mobile numbering system
(e.g., 079 1234 5678) with the
Internet Domain Name System
(e.g., john@itu.int). The current
approach at the global level is
based around the ENUM stand-
ard.16 But progress on this has
been slowed by politics, in par-
ticular on whether or not there
should be a “golden tree” struc-
ture to the numbering plan and,
if so, who should control it. Ko-
rea’s domain name administra-
tion authority (KRNIC:
www.nic.or.kr) has come up with
an innovative solution that it calls
WINC (Wireless Internet Num-
bers for Content). This enables
a mobile phone to use numbers
26
to access Internet sites. Testing
began on 15 April 2002 and was
made available commercially on
1 June 2002. For instance, typ-
ing 642 would give access to a
limited set of URLs from which
the user could choose from the
screen (e.g., nic.or.kr or
mic.or.kr). Typing 642#123 (con-
firm) would take the user directly
to www.nic.or.kr).
• Mobile Commerce. As else-
where in the world, it is hoped
that mobile commerce will be a
driver of mobile Internet take-up
in Korea. KTF is offering a plat-
form called “K-merce”, which of-
fers personal finance services
(stock trading, banking, money
transfers from a mobile phone),
shopping transactions (including
participation in auctions) and
payments, made from an IC chip
embedded in the phone. One of
the most popular mobile com-
merce services thus far has been
the e-lottery service, which ena-
bles lottery tickets to be pur-
chased from a mobile phone.
Recently, someone won a jack-
pot from an e-lottery ticket,
which generated a lot of favour-
able publicity. However, a major
constraint to the development of
mobile commerce in Korea is the
limit of 30’000 Won per month
(around US$ 25), which was im-
posed by regulators, under pres-
sure from credit card companies
worried that mobile phone com-
panies would steal their business.
Virtually all billing in Korea is
post-paid rather than prepaid, so
this acts as a limit on credit. The
mobile phone companies are ne-
gotiating for the limit to be
raised.
These are still early days in the
development of the mobile Internet,
and it is not clear which of these
applications, or others not yet
developed, will turn out to be major
demand drivers and which will flop.
Korea, along with Japan, is a pioneer
in this field, as shown by the fact that
these two countries have much higher
levels of mobile data usage than other

countries (see Figure 2.7).17 There is
intense rivalry between the two
countries as to who will prove top dog
in the mobile Internet. Although Japan
has a greater percentage of mobile
users that use the Internet (mainly
thanks to the i-mode phenomenon),
Korea has the bigger number of high-
speed mobile data users (thanks to
CDMA 1x). Their experiences will be
closely observed as 3G services are
implemented elsewhere in the world.
2.4.4 Korea as a mobile pioneer
The approach that Korea has taken in
mobile technology has been quite
bold. Although Korean manufacturers
of mobile handsets, like Samsung or
LG, compete actively in the market for
GSM equipment, the domestic market
is purely CDMA. When the Football
World Cup was hosted in Korea in June
2002, foreign visitors could only roam
by having their GSM handsets encased
in a CDMA “shell”. Korean operators
lost out on a potentially huge source
of revenue because few visitors
bothered to do this and were thus
unable to use their mobile terminals.
If Korea’s decisions on choosing a
mobile technology had been based
purely on market concerns, then it
is unlikely that they would have
chosen CDMA. But CDMA represents
Figure 2.13: Ahead of the pack
Mobile data usage in Korea, compared with selected other economies (left) and over time (right)
Mobile Internet penetration, 2001 Korean CDMA 1x handsets, millions
France 5.6
Taiwan, China 6.6 Mobile Internet
UK 6.9 users as a
Italy 7.0 percentage of total
Germany 7.9 mobile users
US 7.9 3.5
Singapore 9.4
Canada 13.8
Finland 16.5
Rep. of Korea 59.1 Nov- Dec- Jan- Feb- Mar- Apr- May- Jun-
Japan 72.3 01
Source: MPHPT Japan (left), MIC Korea (right).
2. ICT market
a technically superior alternative (for
instance, it is at least three times
more efficient in the use of
spectrum) and, above all,
championing CDMA technology has
been an important part of the Korean
government’s overall IT strategy.
The key question is whether CDMA
puts Korea in a better or worse
position as the market moves on to
the next generation of mobile
technology? The early evidence
suggests that CDMA 2000 1x is
leading the way in 3G. It is
outperforming W-CDMA in Japan and
it has scored some early successes
in North America. But it may never
be adopted in Europe and it is
unlikely to be adopted anywhere else
in the GSM world. Thus, like for the
CDMA platform itself, technically
superior performance is not enough.
It is industrial policy that counts.
Japanese manufacturers are in a
similar situation. Their homegrown
mobile technology, PDC (Personal
Digital Cellular), is not used
anywhere outside Japan. They have
scored some successes with i-Mode
but need now to market that success
outside the country. NTT DoCoMo is
leading the charge to push i-mode
and is doing this through acquisitions
(e.g., as a shareholder in AT&T
10.3
9.3
8.3
7.6
6.2
5.1
4.2
01 02 02 02 02 02 02
27
Korea Internet Case Study
Wireless), through Joint Ventures
(e.g., with KPN of the Netherlands)
and by bidding for licences. For the
moment, Korea’s operators have
only limited interests outside their
home country. The conclusion from
this would seem to be that, if Korea
really wants CDMA 1x to be
successful in potential export
markets, this would require Korea’s
operators to look outside their home
t e r r i t o r y a s w e l l a s Ko r e a ’s
manufacturers.
A second question that arises is the
extent to which wireless LAN (WLAN)
services (such as KT’s “Nespot”) and
3G services (such as the CDMA 1x
service) will be complementary or
competitive? Although, in theory,
WLAN services should not be
substitutable for 3G, because of their
limited range (typically below
150 metres), in practice, as the
density of WLAN hotspots increase,
there will be a degree of
s u b s t i t u t a b i l i t y. T h e p r i m a r y
28
advantage of WLAN services is their
pricing mechanism. They tend to be
priced on the basis of a flat-rate
subscription, not a per minute basis.
This is a critical advantage for access
to the Internet, where users are
familiar with unlimited usage pricing.
The capacity available on WLAN is
also much greater than that
c u r r e n t l y a va i l a b l e o n m o b i l e
networks.
This represents a dilemma for
Korea’s wireless operators. Should
they embrace WLAN, and risk
cannibalising their CDMA 1x
revenues? Or should they try to
ignore WLAN, and risk losing the
market to other operators, such as
KT? Perhaps the answer lies in a
greater degree of terminal integration.
It is relatively easy to envisage
developing terminals that could use
either WLAN, where available, and
CDMA 1x, where it is not. Here is a
major market opportunity for Korean
manufacturers.
 2. ICT market

1
Korea’s low rate of local lines connected to digital exchanges is partly a result of country’s drive to produce
its own local telephone exchanges known as TDX. Though a large number of the TDX exchanges were
installed during the 1980s, installation has tapered off lately. According to one researcher this is due to the
high development costs which make the exchange more expensive than those produced in other countries.
See Sung-Bum Hong, “The Patterns and the Directions of Technological Innovation in the Switchboard
Industry of Korea.”
2
See Thrunet. “Fact Book.” english.thrunet.com/ir/fact_book.asp.
3
The urbanization of Korea has progressed rapidly since the 1980s and the construction of apartments has
boomed since 1995. In the year 2000, apartments emerged as the main housing unit.
4
Korea’s manufacturers are beginning to have an impact on global ADSL markets. For example, Samsung has
emerged as the fourth and third largest vendor globally for ADSL exchange and customer equipment
respectively. See “Samsung is one of the world-leading ADSL vendors.” Samsung Electronics Press Release.
9 February 2001.
http://www.samsungelectronics.com/network/broadband_network/product_news/news02_09_fed.html.
http://www.samsungelectronics.com/news/telecommunications/com_news_1013075527859_001500.html.
5
MIC. Broadband Internet in Korea. April 2002.
6
For more on the development of Internet exchanges in Korea see, Young-Ro Lee and Byeong-Nam Yoon.
“IXs in Korea.” www.apia.org/nl8/IXKorea.html.
7
“In addition, Internet users in Korea pursuant to traditional dial-up services must pay local per minute
telephony charges, whereas ADSL subscribers pay a flat fee. Therefore, we believe that subscribers that
average over two hours a day on the Internet realize cost savings through our ADSL services.” Hanaro
Telecom. Annual Report on Form 20-F 2001.
8
GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) is widely used throughout Europe, Africa and Asia and was
first introduced in July 1991. CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) is a more recent technology, which is
used in some parts of the Americas and in Korea. It is now being introduced in some parts of Asia. For more
details on different mobile technologies, see, ITU Internet Reports 2002: Internet for a Mobile Generation,
available at: www.itu.int/mobileinternet.
9
As the level of prepaid subscribers in Korea is very low compared with other countries, it can be assumed
that this represents the real number of subscribers rather than an inflated number caused by many unused
accounts.
10
The sale started in 1994 with the purchase of 23 per cent by the Sunkyong Group (SK) and was completed
in 1997 when KMTS changed its name to SK Telecom. As of May 2002, KT still retained 11 per cent of the
shares of SK Telecom, but a sale of shares was imminent.
11
CDMA2000 1x, available in Korea since October 2000, was faster than existing networks but did not initially
meet ITU’s requirements for IMT-2000. However, together with the latest evolution of this standard (1xEV-
DO), CMDA2000 1x has now been approved by the ITU as an IMT-2000 standard, retroactively making Korea
the first country to commercially deploy 3G services. For more information, see the ITU Internet Reports
2002: Internet for a Mobile Generation at: www.itu.int/mobileinternet. For more information on IMT-2000
standards, see: http://www.itu.int/home/imt.html.
12
See, for instance, “Korea’s EV-DO 3G service struggling with slow penetration.” Korea Herald. 9 September
2002. http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2002/09/09/200209090018.asp.
13
Interestingly, Korean’s appetite for computer animation is helping to bring North and South Korea closer
together. The “mydinga” 3D computer animations (www.mydinga.com), a series of short animated films
featuring a lazy cat and a cool dog, have been designed in the South (by a subsidiary of Hanaro Telecom)
but subcontracted to the North, where labour is cheaper. They are designed to be downloaded onto different
platforms, such as mobile phones or PC screens.
14
See the report on the Korea Herald website at:
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2002/05/25/200205250026.asp. The report was carried
out between March 22 and April 15 2002.
15
For more information, see the summary on the KRNIC website at: http://www.nic.or.kr/cgi-bin/EnterBoard2/
enboard.cgi?ActionID=14&dbname=stat_mon&filename=bW9iaWxlIHN1bW1hcnlfZW5nLnBwdA==.2002.07.1211.57.06&index=77.
16
For more information on ENUM, see the ITU website at: http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/enum/index.html.
17
For an extended discussion of this theme, see chapter three (Market Trends) of the ITU Internet Reports
2002: Internet for a Mobile Generation, available for purchase at:
http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/publications/mobileinternet/index.html.

29
 3. Sector absorption and ICT applications

3. Sector absorption and ICT applications

3.1 E-government registration system that has

3.1.1 Where Korea stands…
Korea’s growing Internet population
is an important step towards the
country’s e-government efforts. An
ICT-literate citizenry is needed if
online government services are to
reach their full potential. A number of
e-government projects have been
implemented and the country has the
prerequisites to move from
e-readiness to e-nation.
A variety of achievements can be
highlighted. By January 2000, almost
all government ministries and
agencies were online and connected
to a high-speed backbone network.
More than 80 per cent of the central
government ’s documents are
computerized and 55 per cent of the
government’s (both national and local)
documents are handled electronically.
Various applications have also been
implemented including a real estate
computerized over 200 million pieces
of property. Information about the
properties can be examined in real
time and titles issued on demand. The
system is accessible from government
offices as well as kiosks. Time spent
on registering properties has been
reduced from over two hours to less
than five minutes. The resident
registration system contains birth,
death, marriage and divorce
information on all Koreans. The
system was launched in 1993 and is
accessible by all relevant government
agencies. Citizens can update their
record online with no need to visit
government offices, reducing the time
spent on registration to between
1-3 minutes from 15-20 minutes.
3.1.2 … and how Korea got
there
The Korean government has played a
leading role in ICT development.
Korea has combined the benefits of a

Table 3.1: Korean government ICT budget

2001 and 2002, Won billion, (US$ millions)

Category 2001 Budget 2002 Budget Remarks

E-government 490 ($ 372) 572 ($ 435) Key items in the e-government agenda

IT Infrastructure & 322($ 245) 403($ 306) Software & digital contents development,
Industrial IT Application standardized electronic catalogues

IT Application in 463($ 352) 511($ 388) Public library digitalisation, electronic

Everyday Life mapping of underground utility networks

Digital Divide & 228($ 173) 126($ 96) Low-income subsidies for internet access,
Abuse Prevention network & equipment protection

Total IT budget 1'503($ 1'143) 1'611($ 1'225) 7% increase

Source: Ministry of Planning and Budget. "Synopsis of the Budget of the Republic of Korea, Fiscal Year 2002."
February 2002.

31
Korea Internet Case Study

free market economy (e.g.,
competition and innovation), with the
positive effects of a robust
government, such as the protection
of disadvantaged groups and the
promotion of long-term investments
(see Box 3.1). There is much to learn
from the government’s active role as
provider, user and promoter of ICT.
The emphasis here lies on the word
active since the Korean government
not only provides the necessary
regulatory framework and supportive
environment but, in an effort to be
one step ahead, also encourages
companies to invest in and consumers
to use ICT.
Korea was one of the first countries
to emphasize the importance of ICT
as an economic stimulus. It also
recognized the role that ICT could play
to make its society more productive
and its government more democratic.
The government’s leadership and top
leaders’ commitment to ICT, combined
with adequate funding, have helped
Korea to spark and maintain its digital
revolution. Between 1998 and 2001,
government spending for information
technology doubled, from
Won 715 billion (US$ 544 million) to
Won 1’503 billion (US$ 1.1 billion). ICT
spending represents 1.4 per cent of
the government’s total budget and is
one of the top ten expenditures.
The country’s successful ICT
adaptation is partially the result of its
governmental organization structure.
Some countries in the world have been
overtaken by events, without a clear

Box 3.1: The Korean equilibrium - public and private harmony

It may seem unusual to hear a company manager
say, “It is part of our business culture to listen to
the government.” 1 After all, an adversarial
relationship between public and private interests is
common in many countries. But in Korea, there
seems to be a quiet agreement between
government and business. Instead of a zero-sum
game, in which one wins what the other loses, there
is a culture of mutual and shared interests where
both sides can win.
Part of this is uniquely Korean with a tradition of
government authority. Nevertheless, it is important
to understand the government’s way of dealing with
the private sector, which contributes to this
equilibrium. The Korean government’s mission is
delicate, in which it influences the market without
dominating it. Its active intervention is aimed not
only at counteracting market failures but also at
inducing the private sector to make long-term
investments by providing a certain degree of
protection. Part of the strategy is to get government
and business officials together. Furthermore, almost
all government projects are planned and carried
out in cooperation between the two sides.
To achieve long-term ICT investments, the
government has come up with different types of
funding mechanisms and policies. It has also
contributed to the growth of the ICT industry by
being one of the private sector’s best clients for
information technologies. The Informatization
Promotion Fund, established by the MIC, is used to
support projects selected by a special committee
on a competitive basis. In 1999 and 2000, the
government provided Facilities-based Service
Providers (FSP) with US$ 77 million, at a very low
interest rate, to invest in broadband access
networks. The 2000 provision included the condition
that the companies invest in less densely populated
areas. While this reduced the financial burden taken
on by the FSPs, the payback of this investment is
substantial. It is estimated that the spill over effects
of the investment in broadband Internet services
amount to over US$ seven billion and had created
5’000-8’000 jobs by 2001.
Similarly, government test beds let private
companies experiment with new technologies
without the financial risk. The government’s Security
Net program currently provides companies with
support for research on next-generation Internet
technologies such as the Ipv6 backbone. Another
way of encouraging companies to invest in ICT is
the ‘Certification Program for Broadband Buildings
and Apartments.’ This initiative certifies the
informatization level of new apartments and
buildings. Buildings receive 1st, 2nd or 3rd class
certificates, depending on whether they provide
over 100 Mbps, 10-100 Mbps or 10 Mbps Internet
connections.
A recently announced government plan calls for
boosting the country’s information technology
export industry by helping smaller Korean
c o m p a n i e s e s t a b l i s h a n ov e r s e a s m a r k e t
presence. The initiative, called e-Silkroad, will
select 50 products that are most likely to be a
success and ensures the manufacturer receives
financial funding. The government will also
investigate the market potential for the product
in different countries. Selected projects include
CDMA technologies, games software and home
networking.2

32
 3. Sector absorption and ICT applications

Figure 3.1: Korea's ICT plans and there is a plethora of statistics

and reports.

Finally, the government has also

E-Korea Vision 2006 implemented its vision of an
(2002-2006) information society in a series of plans
•Maximize ability of all citizens to use ICT to actively particip ate in information dating back to 1987 (see Figure 3.1).
society
•Strengthen global competitiveness of economy by promoting informatization
Six major national projects have
•Smart government structure with high transparency & productivity through structured the direction of government
informatization
•Facilitate economic growth by promoting IT industry & advancing infrastructure policies:
•Become a leader in global information society by taking major ro le in
international cooperation

CYBER KOREA 21
1. The National Basic Information
(1999-2002) System (1987-1996) was the
•Vision and strategy for a creative Knowledge -based country
first national project to call on the
•Key policy undertaken over 1999 -2002 mobilization of resources to be
•Advanced information infrastructure, increasing national
productivity, creating new industries and jobs used for the use and promotion
National Framework Plan for of computer networks.
Informatization Promotion
(1996-2000) 2. The Korea Information Infra-
•Ten strategic thrusts in education, government administration, e tc. identified
•Building information infrastructure/nurturing IT industry
structure (KII) project, initiated
•Annual action plans in 1995, included the construc-
tion of the national high-speed
Korea Information
Infrastructure Initiative
public backbone, the develop-
(1995-2005) ment of ICT applications, the pro-
•National information superhighway with its applications motion of R&D and IT-related
& technology development pilot projects. KII emphasized
•Reschedule the milestones (originally 1995-2015)
public-private partnership, es-
National Basic Information System tablished an information promo-
(1987 – 1996)
tion fund, which encouraged
•Five Pillars (administration, national defense, public security, finance, education
& research)
private companies to make long-
•First stage (1987-1991) and the Second stage (92 -96) term investments and promoted
•Settlement after investment
research. A certification program
Measures to nurture IT Industry for broadband buildings was
(1987 – 1985)
launched and the government
•Development of electronic industry (e.g. switching board)
•IT Industry Promotion Board provided test beds to help com-
panies avoid risks while at the
same time encouraging R&D. The
KII project has been continuously
Source: NCA. revised and upgraded in re-
sponse to market and technical
developments.

ICT strategy. There are often 3. The National Framework Plan for
competing projects across different Informatization Promotion, initi-
agencies and ministries. Korea has not ated in 1996, set up the annual
allowed itself to be taken by surprise. action plan for different sectors,
The government is characterized by a including government and edu-
clear distribution of responsibilities cation. It also included a blue-
between different agencies. print for an information society
Recognizing the challenges and (with e-government plans) and
opportunities brought about by ICT, set up the Informatization Pro-
the government was quick to motion Committee. This top-level
reorganize existing structures or decision-making body, chaired by
introduce new agencies and to revise the Prime Minister, suggests and
or launch new laws and regulations. evaluates projects. It works to-
Goal identification and measurement gether with and takes advice
have played a crucial role. The ICT from the Informatization Promo-
activities of government ministries tion Advisory Committee, made
and agencies are carefully monitored up of 26 representatives from the

33
Korea Internet Case Study
business sector, academic sector
and private organization.
4. CYBER KOREA 21 (1999) was a
response to the Asian financial
crisis and designed to counter the
effects of the recession and to
overcome the crisis. It laid out
the necessary steps to reform the
country into a dynamic informa-
tion society and increase ICT pro-
ductivity to create new
businesses and jobs. It boosted
national infrastructure and con-
nectivity was increased from
155 Mbps to 40 Gbps in 144 re-
gions.
5. The e-Government Initiatives
(January 2001) specified 11 ac-
tions to enhance the develop-
ment and use of government
applications, such as the home
tax service, the e-procurement
system, the financial/education
information system and the per-
sonnel management system. An
e-Government Committee, in-
cluding experts from the private
and the public sector, is respon-
sible for the implementation and
evaluation of e-Government
projects. The Committee reports
directly to the President.
6. Finally, Global leader, e-Korea is
the slogan for the MIC’s latest
initiative. It includes the e-Korea
project (launched in April 2002),
aimed at upgrading the country’s
information technology infra-
structure and tackling fresh chal-
lenges stemming from the digital
divide. The government plans to
invest over 70 trillion won
(US$ 53 billion) in ICT over the
next five years. Goals include
getting more than 90 per cent of
all Koreans online, improving
e-government and encouraging
schools to use more sophisti-
cated ICT applications.
3.1.3 Government as user
The National Computerization Agency
(NCA, at <www.nca.or.kr>) has, since
1987, been in charge of developing
and deploying information technology
in the public sector. It is in charge of
34
computerizing the government and
acts as consultant and administrator
to the public sector to make sure that
ICT are used effectively. Through the
Korea Information Infrastructure
Initiative (KII), which was launched
in 1995, the government allocated
32 trillion won (US$ 24 billion) to build
a national broadband backbone
network, mainly through optical fibre
cables. It provides over
28’000 government ministries,
agencies and public institutions with
high-speed broadband access. The
nation-wide broadband service is
continuously improved and updated
and provides the basis for the
government’s commitment to provide
the necessary infrastructure for
e-government.
All of Korea’s 143’000 central
government employees have their own
PC and e-mail address. To ensure that
the government is effectively using ICT,
all employees have to adapt to the
informatization process. ICT training is
made widely available and the
government organizes contests to provide
incentives for staff to improve their IT
skills. In addition, each ministry has a
Chief Information Officer in charge of
promoting and overseeing the use of ICT.
In January 2001, the government
created the Special Committee for
e-Government Korea. The Committee,
made up of experts from the private
as well as the public sector, studied
the problem of rivalries between
ministries that often hinder the
successful development of projects. It
came up with several initiatives to
enhance coordination and minimize
conflict between government entities.
Eleven key tasks were identified to
improve the quality of civil service and
the way the administration works (see
Table 3.2).
3.1.3.1 Government as provider
Korea has a long history of trying to
improve public services to its citizens
through the use of IT. Its efforts go
back to the 1980s when it began
setting up public databases. A strong
characteristic of the Korean
government is it inclusive approach,
that is, the idea that every Korean
 3. Sector absorption and ICT applications

Table 3.2: e-Government initiatives

Key Tasks identified in 2001 for e-Government, to be achieved by 2002

Key Task Description

Innovative and better services Public and Businesses

Public-oriented service through a Single Establishing portal site and public information sharing system
Window (G4C: Government for Citizen) for five major databases in the areas of resident registration,
real estate, vehicles, corporate and tax

Linking four major social insurance Linking medical, national pension, employment, and accident
information systems compensation insurances and activating information sharing

Home Tax Service via the Internet 24 hour online service such as tax declaration and payment,
affairs document issuance and tax counselling

G2B: Integrated e-Procurement System Establishing a single procurement window and making all
procurement related processes electronic such as registration,
tender, contract and payment

Productivity and efficiency Government

Integrated National Finance Establishing a system for information sharing and linkage
Management System for finance related institutions

Integrated Administration Information Completing information for all administrative affairs such as
System in local government resident registration and real estate, finance, tax, etc. in
21 cities

Nation-wide Education Administration Establishing an online logistics system for school affairs and
Information System education administration material connecting schools, Office
of Education and Ministry of Education and Human Resources
Development

Personnel Policy Management System Developing and diffusing a standardized system for the whole
human resources including recruitment, promotion, payment
and training of public service personnel

Government e-Document Exchange E-processing of preparation, approval, distribution and

storage of all governmental documents

Building an infrastructure for e-Government

Government e-signature and e-seal Securing reliability for information distribution and
system e-administration such as private information protection and
security

Consolidation of Government Computing Protecting 24 hour working, professional service, and secure
Centres information resources by managing computing environment
in an integrated manner

Source: NCA.

35
Korea Internet Case Study
should and needs to participate in the
global information revolution. At the
same time, it is very goal-oriented.
Currently, the government’s objective
is to get 90 per cent of all Korean’s
online by 2006. Its approach is
inclusive in another way. Instead of
simply providing the infrastructure
and relying on peoples’ interest to get
connected, the government is also
active in raising awareness and
providing training, especially to what
it calls the information disabled.
Between 2000 and 2002 more than
8.1 million people were trained,
including the elderly, housewives, and
prisoners. Some 20‘000 military
personnel received computer training
and had the possibility of obtaining an
Information Specialist certificate - a
bonus on the job market. Small-and
Medium-sized enterprises (SME) and
marginalized sectors of the society are
provided with subsidized Internet
access. The ‘Plan for Promoting ICT
Use and Distributing PCs to Children
of Low Income Families’ was launched
in 2001 and provides those who
cannot afford to have ICT with a PC
and a discount Internet access rate.
The government also subsidizes
companies to provide computer
training for their older personnel.
Until recently, e-government was
more focused on the use of ICT to
enhance government procedures with
citizens benefiting indirectly through
more efficient and quicker processing.
While it used to take three days and
four different forms to process a new
passport, it now takes 20 minutes and
one form. So while the application is
not available online, citizens can get
passports in a much shorter period.
The government has set up the civil
affairs portal (G4C), which will make
it much easier for Koreans to deal with
administrative matters. The single
portal will provide some
4’200 government services online
without citizens having to visit
different agencies. A map will help
citizens navigate through the different
procedures and a search system will
help them to find their way. Using the
e-government portal, citizens will be
able to use online filing, issuing and
36
identifying services such as residence
registration transcript and abstract,
certificate for the disabled, tax-paid
certificate and building registrations.
The cost of the transaction will be
calculated online and application
forms will be available.
Since April 2002 the e-government
portal (www.egov.go.kr) has been
providing electronic filing and
information services and by the end
of 2002 some 400 civil affairs services
will be processed electronically. The
site averages about 11’000 hits a day
and the number is increasing rapidly.
“The …project concentrates on the
renovation of civil affairs service to
minimize peoples’ time and efforts, by
abolishing unnecessary work,
reducing the number of documents to
be submitted and simplifying civil
affairs processing procedures.”3
The government is also developing an
integrated database covering five
major areas: real estate, citizen’s
registry, automobile registration,
enterprise information, and taxation.
Organized on the federal level it will
cut across all government agencies,
including the 16 provincial and 232
local governments. According to the
government, this project will reduce
the average number of documents
required for a resident from 1.9 to 0.1,
and the average number of visits
from 4.5 to 1.2.4
3.1.4 ICT success factors
The success of Korea’s ICT sector is
in a large part due to the direction
and policies that the government has
adopted. The following examples
illustrate the government’s active role
in the promotion of ICT. They also
highlight factors that could serve as a
motivation and inspiration to policy
makers around the world.
• Project evaluation. The Korean
government meticulously col-
lects data, writes reports, car-
r i e s o u t s u r ve y s , a n a l y s e s
progress and identifies goals.
Re p o r t s i n c l u d e t h e N C A’s
Internet White Papers, KISDI’s
IT Industry Outlook, the Minis-
try of Education’s White Paper
 3. Sector absorption and ICT applications

on Adapting Education to the frastructure, utilization and vi-

Information Age and the MIC’s
White Papers. These reports are
an important development tool
since they highlight strengths
and weaknesses. They also al-
low the government to put
achievements into international
perspective and to compare dif-
ferent government strategies to
each other.
• The Evaluation System for Na-
tional IT projects was introduced
in 1997 to assess the results of
different projects. The
Informatization Evaluation Com-
mittee, composed of government
officials as well as experts from
academic and research organiza-
tions and industry, oversees evalu-
ations. A self-evaluation by the
agency involved is followed by an
external evaluation by the Com-
mittee. In 2001, 62 projects were
evaluated. The Informatization
Evaluation Committee also as-
sesses the computerization of
central and provincial govern-
ment agencies with regard to in-
sion and strategies. The results
of the evaluation are used to
determine new projects and
plans.
• Research and Development.
There are a number of research
and development organizations
in Korea dealing with ICT, such
as the Electronics and Telecom-
munications Research Institute
(ETRI, see Box 3.2). The Korea
Information Society Develop-
ment Institute (KISDI, at
www.kisdi.re.kr) is another gov-
ernment sponsored research in-
stitute. Its primary aim is to
provide the vision and policy di-
rection towards a knowledge-
based society in Korea. The
Korea Advanced Research Net-
work (KOREN) receives govern-
ment funding to study the
suitability and feasibility of future
technologies.
• Universal access. With the launch
of Cyber Korea 21 in 1999, the gov-
ernment declared war on the dig-

Box 3.2: ETRI — Korea's innovation driver

Established in 1976, the Electronics and
Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI, at
www.etri.re.kr) is a non-profit, government-funded
research organization and one of the driving forces
behind Korea’s ICT success. Some 30 per cent of
its almost 2’000 staff hold a Ph.D. degree and
another 60 per cent a Master’s degree. Its personnel
hold over 2’000 international patents and have
published some 20’000 articles in Korean and
foreign journals.
As the country’s premier developer of innovative
technologies, ETRI’s customers include not only
the public sector, such as the MIC, but also the
private sector, especially small and medium-sized
companies. ETRI’s technology transfer mechanism
allows it to commercialize new technologies while
also helping to support its existence. Once a
project has been sufficiently developed and is
ready to be commercialised, it is handed over to
the private sector. Over 800 technologies have so
far been transferred from ETRI to some 1’800
private companies, an arrangement that has
provided ETRI with over US$ 200 million in royalties.
Through its development of products such as the
TDX digital telephone exchange and Code Division
Multiple Access (CDMA) technology, and its
incubator facility for start-up companies, ETRI has
helped make Korea a competitive force in the ICT
field. Current research areas at ETRI include fourth
generation mobile communications and future
security networks.
ETRI’s success partly explains Korea’s ICT success.
In order for a nation to take a lead in ICT, it must
play an active role in technology research and
development. This helps to nurture local
sustainability as well as competitive advantage. A
number of ETRI’s projects had their roots in uniquely
Korean problems such as the need for a local
telephone switch to meet overwhelming demand
in the 1980s. Another example is automated
Korean/Japanese/English language translators that
ETRI has developed to generate technical manuals,
translate web pages and generate subtitles for
television. ETRI has also helped overcome market
uncertainty by carrying out R&D in areas where
business has been reluctant to invest. The payoff
has been big with ETRI estimating that sales of
products and services using technologies it
developed were some 200 times higher than the
initial R&D investment.

37
Korea Internet Case Study
ital divide. It has since been ac-
tively promoting policies to pro-
vide universal access to ICTs. The
2002 Act on Closing the Digital
Divide includes the establishment
of the Korea Agency for Digital
Opportunity and Promotion
(KADO) as well as a Digital Di-
vide Committee and a five-year
Master Plan. Goals are to equip
every region in the country with
broadband access, provide a
minimum of one location with
free Internet access for each of
the country’s 3’500 administra-
tive units, offer IT training to
every interested person, and
help vulnerable groups (e.g.,
disabled, elderly, etc.) take ad-
vantage of online content. There
are also digital divide projects for
education and small and medium
sized enterprises.
• As part of the digital divide
project, 500’000 primary and
secondary school students from
low-income families received ex-
tra curriculum computer courses
during 2000 and 2001. Apart
from these lessons, 50’000 low-
income students with good
grades received a free PC, to-
gether with a free five-year
Internet subscription. 4’500 re-
cycled PCs were given to the
needy and free Internet access
is provided in almost 3’000 pub-
lic places, such as post offices
and community centres. The
government also finances re-
search on ICT accessibility for the
disabled. The government’s war
on the digital divide is not re-
stricted to only Korean citizens.
Free Internet access along with
PCs and other ICT equipment will
be installed in locations where
foreign workers (of which there
are some 300’000) are housed.
At the international level, Korea
is cooperating with various or-
ganizations, including the ITU,
OECD and APEC, to reduce the
digital divide.
• Right environment. Since the
enactment of the Framework Act
on Informatization Promotion in
38
1995, the Korean government
has put through over 150 laws
related to informatization. They
cover a range of topics including
security, privacy, e-commerce, e-
government, intellectual prop-
erty and reducing the digital
divide. The laws establish a le-
gal framework for ICT in Korea
and help promote the develop-
ment of an information society
by enhancing confidence in
online activities. Recent focus
has been on information security.
The Secure-e-Korea project, ini-
tiated by the government in
2002, features an ICT security
system that all businesses will
have to adopt. The project is the
government’s response to pro-
tecting electronic information
due to increasing e-commerce
transactions, online medical pre-
scriptions and other sensitive
online dealings. The government
is expecting to invest some
280 billion won (US$ 213 million)
in information protection tech-
nologies and standards over the
next six years.5
• Learning from and sharing with
others. The Korean government
has been increasingly active on
the international front to pro-
mote ICTs. It not only partici-
pates in a number of
international and regional organi-
zations dealing with ICT matters
but also organizes an increasing
number of workshops, seminars
and conferences. One example
was the July 2002 e-government
symposium in Seoul, which was
hosted by the MIC and attended
by some 200 high-level policy
makers. Organized in cooperation
with the Asia Pacific Economic Co-
operation (APEC), the meeting
was aimed at helping countries to
exchange information on e-gov-
ernment projects. Korea is seen
as one of the e-government fore-
runners among APEC members
and “keen to publicize the success-
ful implementation of its e-govern-
ment project….paving the way for
the export of digitalisation solu-
tions.”6
 3. Sector absorption and ICT applications

Despite these successes, there Table 3.3: Ranking e-government

is room for improvement. A
recent global ranking of e-
government suggests that Country Rank Score
though Korea is doing well,
others have done better. Korea USA 1 3.11
ranks 15th, placing it in the high Australia 2 2.60
New Zealand 3 2.59
e-government category but
Singapore 4 2.58
below other Asia-Pacific nations Korea 15 2.30
including Australia, New Zealand Japan 27 2.12
and Singapore (see Table 3.3).7
However as these are all nations
where English is the official Source:UN, Benchmarking E-government:
A Global Perspective.
language, there could be some
linguistic bias (indeed of the top
ten ranked nations, six were
English speaking). Japan ranked 27th 93 per cent of Koreans between the
while Hong Kong, China and Taiwan, ages of 7-19 use the Internet.
China did not appear in the ranking.
3.2.2 …and how Korea got
3.2 Education there
In 1995, the Korean government made
3.2.1 Where Korea stands…
a decision to use Information and
Every primary and secondary school Communication Technologies (ICT) to
in Korea has access to the Internet. remodel the country’s educational
By early 2001, all were equipped with system and to create edutopia.8 This
a Local Area Network (LAN), at least term reflects the government’s goal of
one computer lab and access to the creating an education welfare state, in
government backbone network, which all citizens are given the
PUBNet (www.pubnet.ne.kr ). possibility to develop their full potential.
Connection speed up to 256 kbps is Special emphasis is placed on the
provided free of charge and schools promotion of creativity, individuality and
get discounted rates for higher an open educational system for all. The
speeds. Today over 96 per cent of all Korean government felt that ICT could
schools have their own web pages, play a major role in helping to achieve
every teacher has their own PC and this goal.

Figure 3.2: Korean youth online

Percentage of Korean Internet users by age and percentage of Korean Internet users by school, 2001

Percentage of Korean Internet users within age Percentage of Korean student Internet users by
groups, 2002 type of school, 2002
91.4 89.8 98.1 97.1 97.5
91.3
69.4

39.3

9.3

Elementary Middle High School University

6-19 20-29 30-39 40-49 50+ School

Source: KRNIC.

39
Korea Internet Case Study
Many governments have come to
realize the importance of ICT and the
need to make it available in schools
and universities. Korea distinguishes
itself from most other countries in its
belief in the transforming properties
of ICT. According to the Ministry of
Education and Human Resources
Development, “As the society
changes, new types of people will be
needed. The goal of education utilizing
ICT should be to graduate students
who can meet the requirements of
society.”9 Instead of using new tools
to make the existing system work
better, Korea uses ICT to help people
change their way of thinking and
working. In other words, “Adapting
education to the information age does
not identify a specific activity, but it
implies a total change in content,
method, and objectives…”10 .
3.2.3 The Ministry of Education
and Human Resources
Development
The Ministry of Education and
Human Resources Development
(MOE, at www.moe.go.kr) has
been online since 1996 and its
web site provides a variety of
information on the educational
system. The different
departments of the Ministry can
easily share documents and use
an electronic bulletin board to
exchange information. The
computerization of the Ministry’s
administrative activities,
including the educational budget,
the management of teacher
training institutes, and the
issuing of teacher certificates
took place in 1998. More than
half of all documents within the
MOE are today processed
electronically.
The Comprehensive School
Information Management
System, which was set up in 1997
and later replaced by the
Nationwide Educational
Administration Information
System, aims to computerize
school records and streamline
services. The system facilitates
the exchange of information,
through e-mail services, bulletin
boards and electronic document
processing. It also includes a database
on students’ school life records, such
as courses taken and grades. Other
services include the computerization
of school budgets, personnel, student
health care, etc. By 2002, almost
9’000 schools (around 90 per cent)
had adopted this system.
3.2.4 Primary and secondary
education
Korea’s school system is divided into
elementary school (1st to 6th grades,
when children are between the age
of six and 11), middle school (7th to
9th grades, age 12-14) and high school
(10th to 12th grades, age 15-17).
Elementary school is compulsory and
the government is planning to extend
this to middle school although almost
all Koreans already attend high school
and the country has the highest level
of secondary school graduates in Asia.
Government efforts to improve the
Table 3.4: e-education indicators in Korea
2001
Primary education
Number of primary schools 5’322
— Percentage with Internet access 100%
— Number with web pages 4’928
Secondary education
Number of secondary schools 4’955
— age with Internet access 100%
— Number with web pages 4’588
Higher education
Number of Universities 174
Number of Polytechnics/other technical Institutes 20
Number of Junior Colleges 158
Number of IT graduates (*) 34’970
Note: * IT graduates refers to graduates from the fields of computer
science, computer design, and e-business management.
Source: KERIS.
40
 3. Sector absorption and ICT applications
educational system are supported by
parents, many of who are eager for
their children to go on to college or
university. The fact that many parents
are willing to spend money on private
tutoring reflects how important
education is to Koreans.
Korea’s schools are well endowed with
ICTs. In 2000, the student to PC ratio
was 17:1 and over 50 per cent of
schools were equipped with
multimedia equipment, such as
scanners and digital cameras.
Currently about half of all schools have
a network connection speed of at least
two Mbps. The government plans to
provide all schools with this speed by
2005. Two schools have been
designated “Internet High Schools”
providing them with the latest high-
tech equipment and teaching methods
(see Box 3.3). The Internet high
schools allow the government to test
new teaching methods and compare
them to other schools.
Every student begins computer
education from primary school with
compulsory ICT courses of one hour
per week. Middle schools provide
three hours of optional ICT training a
week and high schools provide two
hours per week. According to a 1999
survey, some 48 per cent of middle
school students and over 55 per cent
of high school students were taking
these courses. Every teacher has to
make sure that at least ten per cent
of their course makes use of
computers. This rule is applied
vigorously and forces teachers to learn
about ICT. Almost 100’000 teachers
(over 30 per cent of all teachers)
receive ICT training every year and
every primary and secondary school
has at least one professional ICT
teacher. Korea’s 11 national education
universities have been equipped with
multimedia labs, allowing future
teaching staff to improve their ICT
skills.
3.2.5 Higher education
As in many other nations, the
university community pioneered
computer networking in Korea. The
41
first TCP/IP network in the country,
the System Development Network
(SDN), was introduced in 1982 by
Seoul National University and the
Korea Advanced Institute of Science
and Technology. Dial-up connections
to the US were established in 1983
and a permanent 56 kbps link to the
Internet was made in 1991. The
construction of the Internet remained
within the academic and research
sector until commercial services
started in June 1994.
Korea’s universities are linked through
the Korean Education Network
(KREN), which started as a non-profit
network in the early 1990s. KREN
connects all public universities, some
private ones and other educational
institutions, including some secondary
schools. All universities have high-
speed Internet access and bandwidth
is increasing constantly. In mid-2000,
the government-owned network was
outsourced to Korea Telecom and
integrated into its KORNET backbone.
Despite a high level of connectivity,
the quality of ICT facilities in
universities varies. A number of
universities have a limited number of
PCs. According to a study undertaken
at the Seoul National University,
students have access to free public
computer facilities although “the
record on the use of these PCs shows
that 30.6 students share one public
PC. It suggests an achievement rate
of 33%, far below the goal of
10 students per public PC.”11
The first distance education
universities opened in March 2000.
Only four months later over
5’000 students were enrolled in one
of the nine so–called cyber
universities. Four of these offer only
distance education while the others
also provide traditional courses.
In 2001 there were 6’220 students
enrolled. According to government
officials, the success of distance
education has been mixed. Many
students still prefer to physically
attend courses, especially in a country
where higher education is easily and
widely available.
Korea Internet Case Study
Box 3.3: From mechanics to web design
Located down a narrow street in
a quiet section of central Seoul,
the Sunrin Internet High School
is identified by a large gray stone
marker. The stone harks back to
traditional Korea, with its elegant
characters written in the country’s
Hangul alphabet. But what is
going on in the school is definitely
the future. Although all of Korea’s
primary and secondary schools
have computers and Internet
connections (the latter
accomplished in December 2000),
Sunrin is different in that the high
school has been designated as
only one of two Internet high
schools in the country.
Sunrin has traditionally been
noted for the quality of its instruction (as well as
its baseball team). It has around 1’000 students
and 80 teachers. School hours are 8:30 a.m. –
3:30 pm but some students are so hooked they
stay until ten pm. Sunrin is a senior high school,
roughly equivalent to grades 10-12 in a western
school with students aged 16-18. Like at all Korean
schools, the students wear uniforms that vary by
age and sex.
It is still too early to tell what kinds of jobs the
students will get since the first batch has not yet
graduated. There is job training through cooperation
with industry and some students are already doing
business on the side. It was noted that the Internet
allows a student’s web site, if well done, to be
indistinguishable from those of large companies.
Before learning focused on text but now includes
images and sounds. Movement, sound, and design
are important at the school since they form part of
the new digital content. Sunrin is also big on music
and there is a lab with equipment for experimenting
with digital sounds. The advantage is that you do
not have to have the
actual instrument,
allowing many more
students to participate in
learning music. Students
make their own music,
including adding
soundtracks to videos they
have created. Content
development is also
taught. For example
students study Japanese
Manga cartoons for insight
into graphical design.
There are plans to create a
cyber library. It is expected
that in the future students
42
will not need to bring text books
since digital versions will be
available on the school web site.
Other schools could also download
textbooks authored by Sunrin
teachers, a pretty prolific lot that
have already written 15.
Sunrin, a traditional vocational
school, was selected as an Internet
school because of the enthusiasm
of the principal and teachers.
According to the principal, a
traditional vocational school is
useless in today’s increasingly
information-driven society.
Information Technology (IT) is not
entirely new at Sunrin, which
introduced an Apple Macintosh in
1979 and incorporated computers
into the curriculum in 1982.
Teachers are taught IT skills at a private academy
funded by the Ministry of Information and
Communication. All teachers have their own PC
and Internet access.
Computer training is divided into four departments:
Internet Information Communication, Web-
Managing, Electronic Commerce and Multi-Media
Design. Classes range from Unix to learning Web
design. Students also take four hours of English a
week. In addition, there are extra non-IT courses
to compensate for too much exposure to computers.
An interesting example of the multimedia approach
is a math class that uses an electronic chalkboard
to teach students how to program Eratosthenes
Sieve, an algorithm for identifying prime numbers.
Thus students learn math and computer
programming as well as some English, killing three
birds at once. So, while Sunrin Internet High School
teaches the basics just like any other Korean high
school, it is moving away from conventional teaching
methods and towards a new educational
environment focused on
training digital
generations.
There are over 600 PCs
and 16 PC Labs, many
with the latest equipment.
Most PCs are Samsung
brand, manufactured by
Korea’s largest electronics
company. The school has
two E1 (2.048 Mbps) lines
for Internet access paid by
the government; much
faster than the normal
256 kbps the government
provides to other schools.
 3. Sector absorption and ICT applications
3.2.6 Educational content
Korea’s educational strategy goes
beyond simply providing access to ICT.
Value is added to the available
infrastructure by the provision of
applications and content. The Ministry
of Education and Human Resources
Development, provincial offices of
education, as well as the Korea
Education and Research Information
Service (KERIS) produce online
educational material. The private sector
is also encouraged to create educational
material (which is then certified by
KERIS). Annual exhibitions allow
companies to present their latest
products. In 2001, 88 companies
produced almost 200 software titles for
schools, which receive government
funding to purchase these products.
Teachers are encouraged to come up
with content ideas and the Ministry
regularly organizes software contests.
A special council has been designated
to coordinate and oversee content
creation. The goal of the Ministry is to
cover every single school subject with
a variety of multimedia content and to
make sure that at least 20 per cent of
classroom activities are related to ICT.
A great amount of content is provided
over EDUNET (www.edunet4u.net/
top.html), the government funded
educational portal launched in 1996
catering to students, teachers and
parents. The portal is divided into
twelve categories to provide
information according to the type of
user (student, parent, teacher) and
educational level (primary,
secondary). It includes multimedia
packages, teaching-aid material,
information on university entrance
exams, guidelines for parents, an
online dictionary and a question bank
database. EDUNET’s average annual
growth rate has been 140 per cent and
in 2002 it reached a subscriber base
of over five million. KERIS keeps an
exact record of the type of users, the
growth rate and access frequency and
hours. This helps the organizers of
EDUNET to evaluate its usefulness and
determine strengths and weaknesses.
Another government-driven project is
to increase the use and quality of
43
libraries by providing them with so-
called Digital Data Rooms. These will
eventually allow students and teachers
to manage their library collections
through databases, including searching
and borrowing material, such as books
as well as CD-ROMs, videos and e-
books. Eventually the plan is also to
connect all libraries to the Digital Data
Support Centres, which will allow
extensive information sharing, the
setting up of a catalogue database and
a search system.
The government driven push for content
development provision – again in a
private/public partnership – has altered
the way Korean kids acquire knowledge.
The use of the PC, the Internet and
other ICT related tools becomes as easy
and natural as riding a bike or switching
on the TV and is not something they
will have to take time to learn. At the
same time studying might actually
become more interesting and fun
thanks to new and interactive methods
that not only allow kids to ‘play and
learn’ but also to find their appropriate
level of difficulty. One of the advantages
of online or ICT-based teaching
methods is that they are individualized
and flexible. Finally, Korea’s example
shows that ICT can increase not only
the level of quality but also the quantity
of tools. Compared to countries that are
restricted to working with printed
material, Korea’s access to vast
amounts of online content and the
Internet provides students with a much
bigger choice and variety of didactic
material and available information.
3.2.7 ICT Workforce
In 1999, the Korean government
launched Brain Korea 21, a higher
education reform project to prepare
quality Korean human resources for a
knowledge-based society. In 2000,
undergraduate and graduate enrolment
in the science and technology field stood
at 727’000 and 71’000, respectively. To
provide Korea with the necessary IT
work force, the government is funding
several programs to promote basic
research, and enhance cooperation
between the research community and
the private sector. In 2001, the
government’s R&D budget stood at
US$ 4.27 billion (4.3% of the total
Korea Internet Case Study

budget), with an increased level of 3.2.8.1 Language

spending on IT related higher
education.
At the end of 2000, Korea’s ICT industry
employed some 1.3 million people,
equivalent to six per cent of the total
number of Korean workers. By 2005,
the number of IT workers is expected
to increase to some 1.6 million.
3.2.8 Life-long education
Government efforts to help Koreans
adapt to the information society are not
limited to the young. The goal is to
provide lifelong education to everyone
using information technology by
establishing online learning centres and
web sites with information on vocational
training. Free Internet training is also
provided to groups that might not
otherwise learn how to use ICT such as
the handicapped, elderly and farmers.
The 10 million people Internet
Education project, launched in mid-
2000, is a two and a half year
programme to provide IT training for
at least ten million information-
alienated. Some 3.5 million people
received training in 2000 including one
million homemakers.
Korea defies the assumption that one
must be familiar with English to achieve
a high level of Internet use. Nonetheless
there is a growing sentiment that
foreign language skills must be
improved to not only utilize the vast
amount of information in other
languages on the Internet but also to
better project Korea’s successes and
participation in the global information
society. Thus, there has been increasing
focus on improving English language
skills. Every student learns English from
primary school on, one hour per week.
This is increased to a minimum of three
hours per week from secondary school.
Some graduate schools even teach their
courses in English, the result of a
government initiative calling for more
English-speaking experts. Studying
abroad, especially to learn a foreign
language, is encouraged and a growing
number of students attend overseas
universities for a semester. One
motivation for learning English is that
the government provides financial
assistance for studying IT abroad.
Students must have English proficiency
since the courses are at universities in

Box 3.4: Dot.school

Until October 2001, educational institutions in Korea
used the generic .ac domain name for their web sites.
After that date, new second level domain names were
created for elementary schools (.es), high schools
(.hs), middle schools (.ms), other schools (.sc, such
as education and training institutes) and even
kindergartens (.kg). This policy allows users to easily
identify the nature of a web site. It also expands the
number of possible web sites and makes sure that
Korea does not run out of domain names.

Second level education domain names in Composition of second level education domain
Korea (.ac.kr) names in Korea, 2002
10’473
9’873 sc.kr
ms.kr hs.kr 2%
24% 18%
ac.kr
10%

kg.kr
593 831 es.kr 3%
109 206 310 395
43%
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002

Note: From October 2001, all school second level domain names are included under academic (.ac). This
explains the large jump particularly as that was the period when many schools established web sites.
Source: ITU adapted from KRNIC.

44
 3. Sector absorption and ICT applications
Australia, Canada, India and the United
States. Some 900 students participated
in this scheme in 2002.
3.3 Health
3.3.1 The health sector
Korea’s health sector consists of
1’000 hospitals, 20’000 public health
centres, 18’000 pharmacies and
60’000 doctors. The health insurance
system has progressively been
improved since the 1970s and
universal health insurance coverage
for all citizens has been in place since
the late 1980s. Every citizen, whether
employed or self-employed, falls under
the health insurance system, financed
by contributions made by the insured,
employers and by government
subsidies. Those who cannot afford to
pay for health care (about three per
cent) receive assistance.
The Korean Ministry of Health and
Welfare (MOHW, at www.mohw.go.kr)
is responsible for health policy. Its
budget amounted to Won 7.52 trillion
(US$ 5.7 billion) in the year 2001,
representing 7.5 per cent of the
government total.
Despite the rapid advances made in
improving the nation’s health, there
is a feeling that more can be done.
There is particular interest in using
ICTs to enhance medical service given
the rising costs of health care and new
developments in medical technology.
However, ICT absorption in the health
sector has been held back by legal
restrictions. There is also a lack of
coordination with a number of
promising projects but no overall
scheme for incorporating the results
into a national policy.
3.3.2 ICT in the health care
sector
By March 2002, 813 medical
institutions were connected to the
government’s Internet backbone
through 953 high-speed links. This
includes the MOHW as well as most of
the nation’s hospitals. The MOHW web
site offers information about the
health system, policies and links to
news regarding health care. One
section allows users to ask health
45
related questions that will be
answered and posted on the web site.
One of the most computerized parts
of the health sector is the Health
Insurance Review Agency (HIRA, at
www.hira.or.kr), an independent
agency set up in 2000 to review and
process health claims (See Box 3.5).
The first telemedicine project was
launched as early as 1994, in
conjunction with the Korea
Information Infrastructure (KII)
initiative. The pilot project delivered
medical services using interactive
technologies to rural residents. 12
Other pilot projects have followed, by
both the government as well as private
hospitals. In addition to the rural
experiment, government telemedicine
projects included a service providing
counselling and therapy for people
suffering from dementia and a service
between homes and hospitals. The
experience has been mixed. Most
problems are of a non-technical nature
and include the reluctance of doctors
to be involved (partly because they
have not been able to charge for the
service) and affordability issues for
users who cannot pay the
communication charges. Telemedicine
is not covered by the national health
insurance scheme. Perhaps the
biggest barrier has been that
telemedicine remains technically
illegal due to a fifty-year old law that
only allows face-to-face
consultations.13
Despite the legal uncertainty
regarding online health, some Korean
companies offer services to
consumers as well as to companies in
the health business. Some also sell
medical equipment and provide
multimedia content, such as live
operations and medical seminars. The
Dental Network of Korea
<www.dentnetkorea.com/index.html>
has a database containing information
on dental services, clinics, locations, etc.
It also provides services to dentists,
dental suppliers and laboratories, and
functions as a dental market place with
data on equipment manufacturers,
importers, exporters, etc. CyberHospital
<www.HealthKorea.net> was launched
in June 1998 and over one million
Korea Internet Case Study
Box 3.5: Computerizing medical claims
The Health Review Insurance Agency (HIRA) is
responsible for processing medical claims in
Korea. With close to 600 million claims a year,
HIRA has a strong incentive to promote efficient
and timely processing through the adoption of
information technology. It has been actively
encouraging medical care institutions to adopt
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) technology for
submitting claims. HIRA has a backbone network
connecting its seven regional offices through high-
speed ATM links to the headquarters in Seoul.
Medical institutions can log into HIRA’s site to
submit their claims. Although not all health care
providers use the EDI system to make their
reimbursement claims, most do. Out of a total of
63’675 medical care facilities, 42’280 are
connected to the network and HIRA receives
Box Figure 3.5: Medical claims processing in Korea
Type of medical claim processing used by
Korean medical care facilities
Paper
17%
Total medical
Diskette care facilities
17% April 2002:
63'675 EDI
66%
Source: ITU adapted from HIRA.
people have logged into the site. One
application features a home unit
providing remote monitoring of pulse
and blood pressure that is hooked up
to CyberHospital via the user ’s
Internet connection.
3.4 Electronic commerce in
Korea
3.4.1 Where Korea stands…
With over 70 million credit cards, there
is more plastic than people in Korea.
Match those credit cards with the
57 per cent of the Koreans online and
the 60 per cent of Korean businesses
46
77 per cent of all claims electronically. An additional
15 per cent are submitted by diskette and the
remaining claims are sent in paper format. The
benefits of electronic processing have been
enormous. Errors have been reduced significantly,
the number of steps involved reduced dramatically,
price checking done instantaneously and there is
no more need to maintain rows of paper files.
Besides making the processing of medical claims
more efficient, the system also allows patients to
check their medical records. Every patient has a
personal identification number and, by connecting
to the HIRA server, can check information such as
their medical expenditures. HIRA has a near term
target of having over 90 per cent of medical
institutions submitting electronic claims.
Medical claims processing by
media, Korea
Paper
8%
Diskette
15%
Total claims
Jan.-Apr. '02:
199 milion
EDI
77%
with an Internet connection, and you
have the prerequisites for Korea
becoming an electronic commerce
paradise.
Though official statistics on
e-commerce have only been compiled
for a short time, they suggest that
Korea’s e-commerce market is growing
rapidly. Estimated at US$ 9 billion in
2001, the Korean e-commerce market
represented 2.1 per cent of the
economy. E-commerce in Korea is
predicted to grow dramatically to almost
US$ 200 billion by 2004, and make up
almost 18 per cent of the economy.
 3. Sector absorption and ICT applications

Figure 3.3: A nation of online shoppers

Korean e-commerce trends

$250 20%
18%
$200 e-commerce (US$ b) 16%
As % of GDP 14%
$150 12% Korean e- B2G
10% commerce 6%
B2B
2001:
$100 8% 92% B2C
US$ 9 billion
6% 2%
$50 4%
2%
$- 0%
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

E-commerce household activity, May 2001

Korea 5.6 Korea 28%
78%
UK 42%
UK 5.2 76%
USA 29%
74%
Sweden 1.9 Singapore 37%
69%
Hongkong 35%
Hongkong 0.4 69%
Visitors to banking sites, 7%
Sweden 40%
July 2001, million
Singapore 0.3 Made a secure connection
Visited an e-commerce site

Note:
Source: ITU adapted from NSO, MIC, NetValue.

Korea leads the world in a number of appropriate policies and regulations.

e-commerce measurements. Over half
of Korea’s Internet users have visited
an e-commerce site, the highest level
in the world. With almost 70 per cent
of stock market trading done over the
Internet, Korea is the number one
online stock trader in the world.14 The
country also had 11.3 million online
banking users in December 2001,
ranking it number one in the world on
a per capita basis.
Relevant legislation include the
Computer Program Protection Act and
the Digital Signature Act. The former,
enacted in December 1986, extends
intellectual property protection to
digital goods and services. The latter,
enacted in February 1999, guarantees
the legitimacy of electronic
documents. Four organizations have
been certified to verify digital
signatures.

3.4.2 … and how it got there
Factors that have facilitated the
growth of e-commerce include the
country’s high-speed information
communication network and large
number of Internet users. The
government had also established
While several government entities are
involved in the promotion of
e-commerce, tasks are clearly divided.
The main responsibilities are with the
Ministry of Commerce, Industry and
Energy (MOCIE, who is responsible for
policies and regulations) and the

47
Korea Internet Case Study
Ministry of Information and
Communication (MIC, who is in charge
of the Digital Signature Act, Privacy
Protection and infrastructure
matters). 15 In February 2000 the
government laid out the ‘General Plan
for promoting e-Commerce’ and
decided on five main sectors and 40
sub-sectors that would help to turn
Korea into an e-commerce nation by
2003 (see Table 3.5).
One of the major barriers to
e-commerce is security. Hacking is a
major problem in Korea and the
number of reported incidents rose
from under 600 in 1999 to over 5’000
in the year 2001. The government has
taken several steps to combat this
trend. It has passed laws against
computer crime and support centres
have been set up for businesses to
find out about viruses and hacking
incidents. The Hacking and Virus
Consulting Centre in the Korea
Information Security Agency (KISA,
at www.kisa.or.kr) issued 50 virus
Table 3.5: Summary of Korea's General Plan for Promoting e-Commerce
Main objective
Consolidate acts and policies to increase
the reliability of cyber market
Continuing expansion of e-commerce infrastructure
Promote e-commerce acceleration in public sector
Spread industrial e-commerce
Establish basis for cyber trade
Source: "General Plan for Activating e-Commerce", February 15, 2000. From 2001 Korea Internet White
Paper, NCA, MIC.
48
warning and prevention notifications
in the first half of 2001. It surveys
invasion attempts and does research
on the latest hacking and virus
technologies. The Secure-e-Korea
project, initiated by the government
in 2002, is a comprehensive security
system that all businesses will have
to adopt. It is the government’s
response to protecting e-commerce
transactions, personal details and
other sensitive online information. The
government is expecting to invest
some 280 billion won
(US$ 213 million) in information
protection technologies and standards
over the next six years.16
Korea’s government is also leading by
example in order to stimulate
e-business. The government has
adopted an e-commerce based public
procurement service, which, so far,
36’000 firms have replied to. By 2001
over 80 per cent of all procurements
in the public sector were carried out
online. The adoption of e-commerce
2000
Main Content
Obtain e-commerce reliability
Strenghten consumer protection
Improve e-commerce business conditions
Early competion of Information Super Highway
Promote technology development and
standardization
Train e-commerce experts
National defense sector
Construction sector
Government-run company
Governement
Expand model project
Compose e-CEO council
Amend cyber trade support act
Establish a unified buyer development system
 3. Sector absorption and ICT applications
in the public sector has a spill over
effect on the business community
since not only do businesses bid for
government contracts, the government
also uses B2B sites to procure goods
and services. According to the National
Statistical Office (NSO) the “public
sector plays a leading role for the
development of electronic commerce in
the sense that it, with its immense
purchasing power, is strong enough to
encourage and stimulate the private
suppliers to introduce e-business in a
short period of time”. 17 Since the
government established the electronic
procurement system in the public sector
in 2000, the NSO has launched a
quarterly “E-commerce Survey on
Government.” In 2001, Business to
Government (B2G) transactions
accounted for Won 704 billion (US$ 545
million). The survey covers 57
government organizations carrying out
e-commerce.
Preparations for next generation e-
commerce include the development of
mobile e-business (m-commerce).
The government has started to
develop mobile application servers
and to create a stable environment
by establishing the necessary
authentication system for mobile
businesses and billing methods. It has
also made it its task to establish fair
profit sharing rules among content
providers and mobile telecom
Figure 3.4: E-commerce usage in Korean companies
Percent of Korean firms with Internet Percent of Korean firms engaging
access by number of employees, 2001 in e-commerce by number of employees,
2001
98% 99%
89%
77%
60%
47%
8%
5-9 Korea 10-49 50-299 300- >1000 5-9
999
Source: ITU adapted from NCA.
49
companies, and to secure an open
system of mobile Internet portals that
allows mobile Internet users to connect
to their favourite Internet sites.
3.4.3 E-Businesses
Out of some 360’000 Korean
companies with more than
five employees, 60 per cent had
access to the Internet in 2001. The
rate rises with the size of the firm,
ranging from less than 50 per cent
among companies with less than five
employees (45 per cent of the total
number of companies with Internet
access) to over 95 per cent among
firms with more than 300 employees.
Some ten per cent of companies with
Internet access engaged in
e-commerce. Again, the range varies
with larger companies more intensive
users of e-commerce (see Figure 3.4,
right chart).
Business-to-Business (B2B)
e-commerce surveys are carried out
by the NSO every three months. Total
B2B activity in Korea was
Won 11 trillion (US$ 8.4) billion and
accounted for 92 per cent of all
e-commerce in the country in 2001.
The B2B e-commerce survey
disaggregates data by buyers, sellers
and intermediaries. The former, where
transactions are carried out on sites
controlled by the buyer, account for
more than three-quarters of
30%
20%
13%
10% 11%
Korea 10-49 50-299 300- >1000
999
Korea Internet Case Study
transactions. This reflects the size of
large corporations who use their sites
to order raw materials and
components needed for productions.
Intermediary sites such as
e-marketplaces account for only a
small portion (3.5 per cent) of e-
commerce sales in Korea.
The government has made an effort
to tackle the business digital divide
by assisting small and mid-sized firms.
This includes the provision of high-
speed Internet access, education, the
establishment of a support centre, and
aiding firms through information
status diagnosis and strategy
planning. The government’s Small
Enterprises Networking Project is
aimed at helping small companies
(with less than 50 employees) to catch
up in IT. These companies often
cannot afford to have an IT team or
to purchase the necessary IT material.
They find themselves in a vicious cycle
where the lack of demand for IT
products for their companies leads to
a small market and few innovations.
To break this cycle and to help a new
market develop, the government,
through the National Computerization
Agency and the MIC, selects three
consortiums to provide companies
with the necessary infrastructure and
services (e.g., PCs, high-speed
Internet access, on-line tax return
application and industry specific
services), as well as the necessary
training. These are provided at
minimal costs. “In a nutshell, the core
strategy for this project is to bring two
subjects of this project together,
which are small enterprises and IT
service companies, to move forward
with Win-Win strategies.”18
3.4.4 Business-to-Consumer
(B2C)
B2C statistics are collected through the
monthly NSO Cyber Shopping Mall
survey. Cyber shops refer to businesses
with web sites selling products online
aimed at the consumer market. They
50
include all identifiable online shopping
malls in Korea, 2’427 in June 2002 up
by 412 from a year earlier. The survey
includes information on the number of
cyber malls, the value of transactions
and the type of products purchased. In
2001, the total value of B2C
e-commerce in Korea was
Won 258 billion (US$ 200 million), a
figure already exceeded in the first six
months of 2002. Goods accounted for
the largest value of consumer online
purchases in 2001. PCs and related
accessories accounted for the biggest
share (29 per cent), followed by
electronic appliances (24 per cent)
and then household goods (six per
cent). Travel reservations and books
made up the next largest categories
(each with five per cent). It should be
noted that these figures are biased in
favour of value rather than volume.
When consumers are surveyed, the
category they purchase the most of
online is books.
According to the NSO’s March 2001
Computer Use and Internet Survey,
almost half of Korea’s Internet users
had visited a shopping site while
15 per cent made an online purchase.
Of those who did not, trust was the
biggest concern. While 32 per cent say
they have ‘little confidence in the
purchase’, another 21 per cent say
they are ‘concerned about the fraud
of e-commerce transactions’ and ten
per cent have ‘security or privacy
concerns’. 19 Almost ten per cent
stated that they had not made an
online purchase because they did not
have Internet access at home.
Despite concerns about security, credit
cards are the number one B2C payment
method (54 per cent of transactions).
This is not a surprise considering the
large number of credit cards in
circulation. Electronic fund transfers are
used for 44 per cent of transactions.
Other payment methods, including
“electronic money” only accounted for
two per cent.

Box 3.6: Measuring e-commerce
Korea’s National Statistical Office (NSO) is a leader
in measuring informatization. The NSO has launched
a number of projects to track the development of
ICT in Korea. In March 2001, the NSO conducted
its first Computer and Internet Use Survey (CIUS).20
The CIUS surveyed 80’000 people and 30’000
households regarding their use and access to ICT. It
is arguably one of the most detailed reports ever
issued regarding a nation’s digital status. The NSO
has also been tracking e-commerce since early 2001.
It carries out a monthly survey on Business-to-
Consumer (B2C) e-commerce, the Cyber Shopping
Mall Survey. It also conducts quarterly surveys on
Business-to-Business (B2B) and Business-to-
Government (B2G) e-commerce. One of the
challenges with being an e-commerce measurement
pioneer is dealing with various methodological issues:
• The NSO asked businesses to disaggregate
purchases by buyer in order to identify the
type of B2C consumer. This has proven diffi-
cult since many businesses collect data on
transaction values, not by purchaser. Another
problem with the B2C survey is that it is diffi-
cult to identify all companies that offer e-com-
merce transactions.
• The definitions and concepts used in the sur-
veys are not always consistent with those used
by the participating companies. Some com-
panies that use computer communication net-
works to conduct business consider their
transactions to be traditional.
3. Sector absorption and ICT applications
• The B2B survey aims at analysing the effect
of e-commerce on business processes and
goes into some detail on how companies work.
For example, it distinguishes between ‘open’
and ‘closed’ transactions. While an open trans-
action would imply bidding process, a closed
transaction would only include predetermined
companies. This kind of detail may help to
evaluate the benefits of using e-commerce,
such as transparency, competitiveness and au-
tomation. Some companies are reluctant or
unable to provide this kind of detail.
• Companies are sometimes reluctant to give
exact e-commerce details and vary in the so-
phistication of their record keeping. Compa-
nies that operate in more than one sector may
forget to include information on all sectors.
The choice of the proper respondent is im-
portant and in some cases it might be better
to separate different economic sectors from
one another.
To minimize measurement errors, the NSO has
several suggestions. Since some companies
predominantly sell and others predominantly
purchase goods and services (for example,
construction companies have more purchasing
than selling transactions), the survey should
enquire about sales and purchases. This would
enhance consistency and error checking since the
sum of all purchases should roughly equal the
sum of all sales.
51
Korea Internet Case Study

1
Quote by one business manager during ITU interviews. May 2002.
2
Yang Sung-jin. “Seoul to launch IT export drive ‘e-Silkroad’”. The Korea Herald. 9 June 2002.
www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2002/09/06/200209060017.asp.
3
Informatization of Korea. National IT Initiatives. National Computerization Agency (NCA). February 2002.
4
“Major achievements of Korea’s e-government program.” The Korea Herald. 4 July 2002.
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2002/07/04/200207040004.asp.
5
Kim Deok-hyun. “Secure-e-Korea Campaign Launched”. Korea Times. 15 July 2002.
6
Yang Sung-jin. “Top APEC policymakers explore key issues in taking government online.” The Korea Herald.
4 July 2002. www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2002/07/04/200207040006.asp.
7
UN. Benchmarking E-Government: A Global Perspective. May 2002.
http://www.unpan.org/e-government/Benchmarking%20E-gov%202001.pdf.
8
The term edutopia was first used by the Presidential Commission on Education Reform in 1995 to describe
the establishment of “an education welfare state – a society of open and lifelong education to allow each and
every individual equal and easy access to education at any time and place”.
9
2001 Adapting Education to the Information Age. A White Paper. Ministry of Education & Human Resources
Development.
10
2001 Adapting Education to the Information Age. A White Paper. Ministry of Education & Human Resources
Development.
11
Keris. 2001 Adapting Education to the Information Age: A White Paper. December 2001.
12
Lee, Sung-Ok. “Telemedicine in Korea: Current Status/Prospect.” 8 June 1999.
www.itu.int/ITU-D/hrd/publications/reports/1999/telemed/pdffr/15-BIS-ARG-KOREA-E.pdf.
13
For a detailed analysis of telemedicine in Korea see Jim Briggs. Telemedicine and related technologies in
South Korea. 2001. http://www.tis.bl.uk/korea/Full_report.htm.
14
“Top APEC policymakers explore key issues in taking government online.” The Korea Herald. 4 July 2002.
www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2002/07/04/200207040006.asp.
15
The E-Commerce Policy and E-Commerce Assistance divisions in the Industrial Policy Bureau handle
electronic commerce issues within MOCIE. In addition to MOCIE and MIC, other government agencies
involved with e-commerce include: Korea Free Trade Commission (consumer protection), Ministry of Culture
and Tourism (intellectual property) and the Public Procurement Service (e-commerce in the public sector).
16
Secure-e-Korea Campaign Launched. Korea Times. 16 July 2002. [I cannot find this article]
17
E-Commerce Statistics in Korea. Korea National Statistical Office (KNSO). Presentation prepared for ITU
representatives in May 2002.
18
“Small Enterprises Networking Project.” Paper presented by the MIC to ITU representatives. April 2002.
19
KNSO. Report on the Computer and Internet Use Survey. 2001.
20
English language summaries of NSO ICT subject reports are available on their web site at www.kso.go.kr.

52
 4. The Information Society in Korea

4. The Information Society in Korea

4.1 The Vision of a Creative,
Knowledge-Based Society
Korea’s emergence as the world leader
in information and communication
technologies (ICT)—in fields such as
broadband Internet, semiconductors
and third generation mobile and so
on—it is not an accident. The
government has specifically targeted
this objective. It is no coincidence that
the period of most intensive
investment in broadband infrastruc-
ture corresponded with recovery from
the worst effects of the Asian Financial
Crisis in the late 1990s (referred to
by the Koreans as the “IMF” crisis).
Again it was because the Korean
government specifically planned this,
despite the general level of austerity
imposed by the IMF’s conditions for
their assistance.
In Korea, the ICT sector is seen as a
driver of economic and social
development. To quote from the
Minister of Information and
Communication, Dr. Seung-taik Yang’s
introduction to the 2001 White Paper:
“We … will further strive to become the
world’s most advanced IT power. To
realize this goal, we will push ahead with
our e-government initiative, develop
the software and content industries, and
educate the public to make them the
most computer literate citizens in the
world. Furthermore, we plan to resolve
the digital divide between regions and
among different classes of people, and
encourage safe and sound use of
information.”
These are ambitious goals but they are
founded on impressive performance.
The combined value of the Korean ICT
industry in 2001 was Won 150.5 trillion
(US$120 billion), and this figure has
been growing by an average of 18.8 per
cent a year since 1997, more than three
times faster than the rest of the
economy (although ICT sector growth
was slower in 2001 as the market went
into recession worldwide). Overall, the
ICT sector contributes around 13 per
cent to Korea’s Gross Domestic Product
(see Figure 4.1). Furthermore, the ICT
sector provides some 1.3 million jobs
(around 5.4 per cent of total

Figure 4.1: Korea's IT industry

In terms of its contribution to Gross Domestic Product, and broken down by sector,
in trillions of Won, 1997-2001

Korea's ICT industry, by contribution to GDP Korea's ICT industry, by sector (in US$ billion)
(in trillion Won) $140
160 $120
13.0% 12.7%
140 Electronic
11.2% $100
120 components
100 8.6% 9.3% $80
80 $60 Info Eqpt.
60 Comms Eqpt.
Total IT production $40
40 Software
Value-added in IT $20
20 ICT services
IT as contribution to GDP
0 $0
1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001

Note: "Info equipment" includes also a small contribution from broadcasting equipment.
Source: MIC, "IT Korea 2002: The Vision for Constructing a Creative, Knowledge-Based Society".

53
Korea Internet Case Study
employment). This is up by around
300’000 since 1995 and expected to
grow by a similar amount by the year
2006.
Government policy has played an
important part in this success story.
One can recognise successive phases
in the development of government
policy towards the sector:
• 1980s / early 1990s: Here the
emphasis was on market liber-
alisation and privatisation in the
telecommunications sector.
• Mid 1990s: During this period,
the first steps were taken to-
wards developing broadband net-
works and programmes to spread
informatization and Internet use.
This period also saw further mar-
ket liberalisation, especially in
the mobile sector, and the des-
ignation in 1997 of Hanaro
Telecom as the second local car-
rier.
• Late 1990s / early 2000s: This
was the period of intense invest-
ment and reform of the venture
capital market as the Korean
economy emerged from the fi-
nancial crisis. A particular focus
of investment has been on the
education sector.
Figure 4.2: Korea's broadband users
Spread of broadband, 1997-2001, and evolution of access methods, 2000-2001
Spread of broadband, in Korea (in %)
100%
75%
Percentage of
households with
50% Percentage of
call areas with
broadband
25% connections
0%
1997 1998 1999
Source: MIC IT Korea 2002 (left chart), NCA Korean Internet White Paper 2002 (right).
The main take-off in the number of
broadband subscribers also came
during this latter period, especially
during 2001. During that year, Korea
passed the symbolic mark of 50 per
cent of households with broadband.
At the other end of the scale, those
Korean Internet users still relying
upon narrowband telephone dial-up
(the dominant access method in the
rest of the world) fell below five per
cent (see Figure 4.2).
4.2 The Policy Push – creating
an information society
Although the private sector has done most
of the “heavy lifting” in achieving Korea’s
current status as a world leader in ICT,
the role of government should not be
underestimated. As one business
manager with a leading Korean company
commented “It is part of our business
culture to listen to the government” (see
Box 3.1). The guidance provided by the
Ministry of Information and
Communication has been turned into
action by the different companies active
in the sector. This means that a little
government spending can go a lot
further in achieving objectives than in
other countries where there is a more
adversarial relationship between
government and the private sector.
However, although the government’s
main influence has been in promoting
Internet use, by access method
100%
Other
90%
80% Leased
70%
60% Cable
broadband 50% Modem
connections 40% xDSL
30%
20%
10% ISDN
0% Dial-up
2000 2001 2000 2001
54
 4. The Information Society in Korea

the shared vision, the government has • Intervention at the non-market-

also intervened more directly too. As
described in section 3.1, there have
been at least six major government
programmes over the last fifteen years
or so, aimed at improving the status of
ICT in Korea. Among the more
ambitious of these is the National
Informatization Framework, established
in 1996, which set out the road-map
for Korea’s future IT development. The
Korean government’s approach may be
characterized as intervention at three
levels:
• Creating the right environment,
mainly through the pro-market
policies of telecommunications lib-
eralisation and privatisation.
• Intervention at the non-market-
end of the supply-chain, in par-
ticular through the funding of the
public Internet backbone, the Ko-
rean Information Infrastructure
(KII). The Cyber Korea 21 project,
for instance, boosted national con-
nectivity at the regional level from
155 Mbit/s to 40 Gbit/s, and all
144 exchange call areas had been
provided with broadband connec-
tivity by 2000. This meant that the
private sector could push through
with the market-end of the sup-
ply chain, reaching 50 per cent
household connectivity in 2001.
end of the demand chain, for in-
stance by providing IT training for
some ten million Koreans, in oc-
cupations like government, the
army, the teaching profession and
homemakers.
In common with other countries with a
relatively liberal market structure, direct
government intervention in close-to-
market activities is limited. Korea’s
distinction between the roles of
government and of the private sector
is one of the hallmarks of its success. It
is equally important to note that the
government has actively tried to create
an information society. While the
construction of an information
infrastructure alone does not guarantee
that people will actually make use of
new ICTs, the provision of training and
awareness campaigns helps people to
join the information society. Thus, the
government has addressed both the
supply and the demand side of the
equation.
4.2.1 ICT information
programmes
Considerable amounts of government
money have gone into different ICT
promotion activities (see Table 4.1). The
trigger for this seems to have been the
establishment of the 1996 National
Informatization Plan. Government

Table 4.1: Korean Government budget for informatization projects

In US$ millions, 1996 - 2002

Category 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002

Establishing a high-speed 113.0 89.0 57.8 145.9 169.9 211.0 136.4

Internet Infrastructure
Support for Informatization 3.1 33.2 34.1 49.0 99.2 100.7 13.5
Promotion
Combating digital illiteracy 3.1 4.4 4.5 4.2 8.0 19.9 19.8
ICT industry foundation 12.3 53.9 50.8 46.3 81.9 83.4 139.1
IT labour market programmes 0 0 103.8 227.0 67.3 0 0
Other Programmes 0 0 0 0 23.2 27.2 13.5

Total 131.5 180.5 384.4 472.5 449.2 442.2 322.2

Source: Ministry of Information and Communication, Korea.

55
Korea Internet Case Study
Box 4.1: Critical infrastructure protection
It would be an understandable mistake to believe
that, as a network becomes more sophisticated, it
becomes safer. In reality, the opposite is the case, as
Korea’s experience illustrates. Korea has the world’s
highest percentage of broadband users (more than
half of all households), many of whom have always-on
accounts. This means that there are millions of
computers with permanent high-speed connections to
the global Internet, belonging to users that have had no
formal training in network security. It also means that
the tools to carry out malicious attacks, or even to
unwittingly pass on viruses are widely spread.
The combination of high-speed networks and lax
security makes Korea a hacker’s paradise, especially
for the routing or hosting of computer viruses for
which neither the originators nor the intended victims
live in Korea. For instance, a worldwide study of
computer security incidents reported between August
2001 and March 2002 found that some 39 per cent
of the 11’322 incidents investigated had been routed
via Korea. The next country, the United States,
accounted for only 12 per cent of incidents.1
The charts shown illustrate the scale of the problem
and of the Korean government’s response. This latter
may be characterised as having five main facets:
• Criminalisation. There were more than 7’500 ar-
rests for computer security related incidents in
Korea in 2001, up by 25 fold over the previous
year. The penal code allows for up to ten years
imprisonment (or a fine of 100 million Won,
around US$85’000) for offences against desig-
nated critical information infrastructures and
half of that for offences against ordinary sys-
tems. The Korean National Police Agency has
some 650 staff dedicated to fighting cybercrime.
• Legislation. Although there is a raft of different
measures, the most important is probably the
Box Figure 4.1: Crime and punishment
Number of computer security incident reports and arrests, in Republic of Korea, 1998-2001
Computer security incident reports
in Korea 65’033
Hacking
Computer viruses 50’124
39’346
5’333
572 1’943
1999 2000 2001
Source: MIC Korea (left), Korea National Police Agency (right).
56
Information Infrastructure Protection Act, in
force since July 2001. This provides the gen-
eral policy framework. It established a Com-
mittee on the protection of Information
Infrastructure (CII), which is chaired by the
Prime Minister with membership of Ministers
from the relevant departments. It also sets out
criteria for the designation of critical infrastruc-
tures and security guidelines to be followed.
• Co-ordination. The policy framework foresees
roles for several different agencies. Among the
main ones involved in information infrastruc-
ture protection are: the CII management body
(responsible for vulnerability assessment), tech-
nical supporting bodies (Korea Information Se-
curity Agency, Electronics and
Telecommunications Research Institute, and
Information Security Consulting Service Provid-
ers), and an Information Sharing and Analysis
Centre.
• Incident Prevention and Response. According
to the level of threat posed by a particular inci-
dent, the response may just involve the CII
management body, it may call upon the serv-
ices of the technical supporting bodies or it may
require the establishment of a temporary inci-
dent response crisis centre. International co-
operation with relevant bodies, notably FIRST
(Forum of Incident Response and Security
Teams) and APSIRC (Asia-Pacific Security Inci-
dent Response Coordination working group), is
also carried out.
• Awareness-raising and technical development.
For instance, an anti-hacking and virus day is
held on the 15th of each month and an early
warning and alert system (e-WAS) is being de-
veloped. Training programmes are also an im-
portant part of the effort.
Arrests made in Korea for computer security offences
8’000
7’000
Hacking/virus arrests
6’000 7'595
Cyberterror arrests
5’000
4’000
3’000
2’000
1’000
278
18 23
0
1998 1999 2000 2001

spending on ICT programmes in that
year amounted to US$ 132 million, of
which the vast majority was spent on
upgrading the Internet backbone
network. Subsequently, the sums grew
to a peak of US$ 473 million in 1999, by
which time the focus of spending had
shifted from supply to demand, with
almost half the available budget being
devoted to programmes designed to assist
with the ICT labour market (e.g., training,
addressing skill shortages, etc).
In line with Korea’s commitments to the
IMF, other government spending
programmes were cut back in the late
1990s.This makes the three-fold
increase in ICT spending all the more
remarkable. Subsequently, spending on
ICT programmes has started to decline,
falling to a projected US$ 322 million
in 2002. Currently the main areas of
commitment are the ongoing support
for the backbone Internet infrastructure
and the ICT industry foundation. This
latter programme is funded from the
revenues gained from spectrum
auctions (for instance, 3G licences) and
is used for activities such as ICT human
resource development, narrowing the
digital divide, R&D in ICT, and support
for small and medium-sized enterprises.
4.2.2 Information security
One area where the Korean government
has played a directly interventionist role
is in information security and the
protection of critical network
infrastructures. In May 2002, the
Korean government hosted two ITU
workshops in Seoul, on standards for
information security2 and on creating
trust in critical network infrastructure.3
These were intended, inter alia, to
showcase the progress that Korea had
made in this field, as illustrated in
Box 4.1.
4.3 Information society
lifestyles
Few countries have gone through the
transformation from an agrarian to an
industrial to an information society as
quickly as Korea. Consequently, few
societies have had to cope with the
changes to lifestyle that the
information society entails. Thanks to
the prestige associated with education
in Korea, and because of the emphasis
57
4. The Information Society in Korea
on promoting Internet use in schools
and universities, Korea’s youth are in
a good position to cope with the
changes. Teenagers, in particular,
have been driving the market in the
adoption of the mobile Internet (see
section 2.2) and in Internet
applications like peer-to-peer. But for
older people, particularly those whose
working lives have changed as a result
of the growing spread of
informatization, adaptation is
sometimes hard.
4.3.1 The “convenient”
information society
The annual survey of Computer and
Internet Use, carried out by the
Korean National Statistical Office,
provides a unique insight into the
opinions of ordinary Koreans. It is
based on a survey of
30’000 households and is completed
by survey workers who visit each
household personally and fill out the
questionnaire directly with the
respondent. For this reason, the
results can be considered highly
reliable. The survey methodology
allows for cross-tabulation of
respondents by various variables
including age, education, profession,
gender, region and income group.
The results are revealing. There is
generally a positive view of the
information society’s effects on lifestyles
with 78 per cent of respondents saying
that they expected their lives to
become more convenient as a result
of the information society, though men
(81 per cent) were more confident
about this point than women (75 per
cent). As might be expected, views
on the information society vary with
age. Teenagers are the most
confident, with around 88 per cent
(ten per cent higher than the national
average) sure that the information
society will have a beneficial effect.
This level of confidence tapers off as
respondents get older with only just
over half of those above the age of 60
feeling that the information society will
be beneficial. Interestingly, among
older age groups, there is not
necessarily any great feeling that the
information society will lead to
drawbacks, but just a high level of
uncertainty, with under a third of over
Korea Internet Case Study

Figure 4.3: Information society: lost opportunities and job opportunities

Perceived effects of the Information Society on sense of alienation and on job opportunities, by level of
education of respondent, as percentage of respondents, in Korea, 2001

Effect of information society on alienation, by Effect of information society on More opportunities

education level (%) More alienation job opportunities, by education No change
80 (%) Fewer opportunities
No change
40
Less alienation Don't know
60 Don't know 30

40
20

20 10

0 0
Elementary Middle High school University Elementary Middle school High school University
school school school

Source: Korea National Statistical Office, Report on Computer and Internet Use Survey, 2001.

60s responding that they did not know
what the effects of the information
society would be on their lifestyles,
suggesting perhaps that they had not
had much exposure to it (see
Figure 4.4, left chart).
Views of the information society also
vary with level of education (see
Figure 4.3), with university graduates
being much more confident of the
benefits (87 per cent) than those with
only primary school education (58 per
cent). Similarly, those in professional
occupations (87 per cent) are more
confident than those in agricultural or
fishing occupations (70 per cent).
Views of the information society
become rosier with wealth. Those on
incomes of less than one million Won
(US$ 810) per month see twice as many
inconveniences as those on incomes
above 4.5 million Won (US$ 3’650).
4.3.3 Sense of alienation
One of the most interesting questions
in the survey concerns the effects of
the information society on the sense
of alienation. Almost three times as
many Koreans feel more alienated
because of the Information Society
than less alienated and the sense of
alienation grows as the level of
education grows. Therefore, almost
60 per cent of college or university
graduates feel that the information
society increases the sense of
alienation. Perhaps surprisingly,
teenagers admit to being more
alienated than those over the age
of 60, but perhaps again this is the
result of much greater use of PCs, and
especially video games, amongst the
former group. The potential threats of
the information society on social
development are keenly felt in Korea
and the dark side of the information
revolution has several facets (see
Box 4.2).
4.3.4 So, what are the benefits
of the information
society?
One might imagine that Koreans’
concerns about the intrusive nature
of the information society and its
contribution to the individual’s sense
of alienation might be offset by the
prospects for new jobs. After all,
almost 300’000 new jobs have been
created in the sector since the mid
1990s. But in reality, ordinary Koreans
are far from convinced. Slightly more
Koreans (29 per cent) feel that the
information society will generate fewer
job opportunities than those (28 per
cent) that feel it will create more jobs,
and women are more pessimistic than
men. Perhaps surprisingly,
perceptions do not seem to vary

58
 4. The Information Society in Korea

Figure 4.4: Information Society: hopes and fears

Perceived effects of the Information Society on personal lifestyles and personal privacy,
by age group, as percentage of respondents, in Korea, 2001

Effect of information society More convenient Effect of information More privacy problems
on lifestyle, by age group No change society on privacy, by No change
(% response) Less convenient age group (%) Less privacy problems
Don't know
100 Don't know 80

80
60
60
40
40
20
20

0 0
15-19 20-29 30-39 40-49 50-59 Over 60 15-19 20-29 30-39 40-49 50-59 Over 60

Source: Korea National Statistical Office, Report on Computer and Internet Use Survey, 2001.

according to the occupations of those development (34 per cent compared

questioned, and those on high salaries
are, if anything, more pessimistic than
those on low ones (see Figure 4.4,
right chart).
When questioned further, Koreans
remained largely pessimistic about the
potential benefits of the information
society. For instance, 60 per cent of
university graduates questioned felt
that the information society would
tend to increase the income gap
between rich and poor, while only
eight per cent thought that the gap
would be reduced. Similarly, only
marginally more Koreans felt that the
information society would promote
greater regional and cultural
with 22 per cent feeling it would have
a negative effect).
The irony is that although Koreans are
convinced that the information society
is good, the only real benefit seems
to be on making personal lifestyles
easier. Overall, Koreans feel that the
information society threatens privacy,
increases alienation, has a neutral
effect on jobs and increases the
income gap. Of course, this negativity
may simply reflect the way the
questions were posed. However, it
does suggest there is a job for
government to convince Koreans
about the benfits of a creative,
knowledge-based society.

59
Korea Internet Case Study
Box 4.2: The dark side of the information revolution
While Korea’s ICT developments have brought
economic and social progress, it is not all a bed of
roses. Thorns of different shapes and sizes have
surfaced.
One example is online game addiction, which has
become a major problem. The excessive use of
online games is particularly noticeable among
teenagers and people in their early twenties, who
play at home or at one of the some 25’000 PC bangs
(online game rooms). In one case, a Korean
computer user died in a PC bang, after three days
of continuous games playing. Apparently, he had
been so engrossed in the game that he forgot to
eat, drink, or sleep. This illustrates that cyber life
can sometimes be more gripping than real life, and
that one can die of neglect even when surrounded
by other people. The Korean Education Research
and Information Service (KERIS) has launched a
research study into the problem of alienation
amongst young people. In addition, the MIC has
established the Centre of Internet Addiction
Prevention and Counselling to help combat the
problem. The Centre is equipped with group and
individual counselling rooms and provides free
advice to addicts. It also has plans to focus its
programme on the prevention of addiction. Parents
and teenagers likewise will be addressed and attend
lectures on the topic.
While this example may be an extreme one, the cyber
café and games culture in Korea has other less flagrant
but perhaps harmful consequences for kids. Who
knows how healthy it is for young people to spend
several hours a day in front of a PC screen. The strain
put on the eyes, the brain and ears by constantly
changing colours, flying and flashing objects and often
loud and aggressive sound effects (PC bang users
usually wear headphones) have not yet been fully
studied.
PC bangs and online games are also modifying social
interaction. As one observer says “[PC bangs
are]…rabbit warrens of high-bandwidth connectivity
… where young adults gather to play games, video-
chat, hang out and hook up.”4 They allow people to
pretend to be someone completely different.
Avatars, personalized online personas, allow Korean
Internauts to assume new personalities. Although
it may be just a game, the need to be someone
60
else might make being the real you boring or
irritating.
Content-related problems are not uniquely Korean
phenomena. Stories about paedophile or racist sites
have appeared in many countries. But a country
like Korea, with ubiquitous access, is probably even
more vulnerable to harmful sites. A Korean
children’s portal carried out a survey and found that
more and more kids were affected by adult content
web sites. The survey (which addressed children
under 13 years of age) revealed that 28 per cent of
the respondents had access to adult web sites.
Some 53 per cent accidentally came across these
sites and 32 per cent accessed them through spam
or unsolicited emails. Some 85 per cent of these
kids said that spam was a serious problem.5 New
problems need new solutions and government
intervention in this field includes the declaration
on ‘The Principle of Netizen Ethics’ in June 2000.
The Korean Government has also organized several
campaigns on ethical awareness.
One problem is that Korea has very few countries
it can look to for advice. The good news is that it is
already grappling with the issue and other countries,
that are starting to experiment with broadband
access and likely to eventually encounter similar
problems, will benefit by monitoring Korea’s
experiences.
This applies to another area, too. The fact that Korea
is not only a bandwidth paradise but also a hacker’s
paradise, has forced the government to take several
steps to combat cybercrime. While Korea has made
great efforts to make its cyberspace safer (see
Box 4.1), government officials admit, “side effects
of digitisation such as hacking, computer virus and
privacy infringement and spam mail are yet to be
tackled.”6 Not an easy task, especially when hacking
has become a real sport. A US$ 100’000 hacking
competition (in which a Korean security company
challenged hackers to crack their server and leave
their registration details in order to receive the
prize) ended in turmoil with no winners, when
hackers attacked the server with the registration
details. The message the hackers left: “One has to
keep in mind that no matter how many precautions
you take, there will always potentially be a way to
hack the system.”7
 4. The Information Society in Korea

1
See “Present status of cyber-terrorism in Korea and its countermeasures”, presentation by Mr. Kun-won Yang
at the ITU New Initiatives Workshop on Creating Trust in Critical Network Infrastructures, Seoul,
20-22 May 2002, available at: http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/ni/security/workshop/presentations/cni.22.pdf.
2
For information, see the ITU website at: http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/worksem/security/index.html.
3
For more information, see the ITU website at: www.itu.int/cni.
4
J.C. Herz. “The Bandwidth Capital of the World.” Wired Magazine. August 2002.
www.wired.com/wired/archive/10.08/korea.html
5
“More children have access to porn sites.” The Korea Herald. 22 July 2002.
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2002/07/22/200207220033.asp
6
Yang Sung-jin. “Korea leads Asia in IT infrastructure: ‘Global leader, e-Korea project’ accelerating IT drive.”
The Korea Herald. 31 May 2002.
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2002/05/31/200205310073.asp
7
Matt Loney. “$100K hacking contest ends in free-for-all.” ZDNet (India). 4 June 2002.
http://www.zdnetindia.com/techzone/resources/security/stories/58719.html.

61
 5. Conclusion

5. Conclusion

5.1 State of the Internet • Connectivity infrastructure: a

The Mosaic Group <www.agsd.com/
gdi97/gdi97.html> has developed a
framework for characterizing the state
of the Internet in a nation. They
consider six dimensions, each of which
has five values ranging from zero
(non-existent) to four (highly
developed). The dimensions are as
follow:
measure based on international
and national backbone band-
width, exchange points, and last-
mile access methods.
• Organizational infrastruc-
ture: a measure based on the
state of the Internet Service Pro-
vider (ISP) industry and market
conditions.

• Pervasiveness: a measure • Sophistication of use: a meas-

based on users per capita and the ure characterizing usage from
degree to which non-technicians conventional to highly sophisti-
are using the Internet. cated and driving innovation.

• Geographic dispersion: a Korean values for these dimensions

measure of the concentration of
the Internet within a nation, from
none or a single city to nation-
wide availability.
• Sector absorption: a measure
of the degree of utilization of the
Internet in the education, com-
mercial, health care and public
sectors.
are shown below.
Pervasiveness is rated at level 4,
Pervasive. At December 2002, there
were 26.3 million Internet users in the
country or 55.2 per cent of the
population.1
Geographic Dispersion is rated at
level 4, Nationwide. Dial-up Internet

Figure 5.1: State of Internet in the Republic of Korea

June 2002

Dimension Value
Pervasiveness
4
Pervasiveness 4.0 3
Geographic Dispersion 4.0 Sophistication 2 Dispersion
1
Sectoral Absorption 4.0
0
Connectivity Infrastructure 4.0
Organizational Infrastructure 3.5 Organizational Absorption
Sophistication of Use 3.0

Connectivity
TOTAL 22.5

Note: The higher the value, the better (0=lowest, 4=highest).

Source: ITU adapted from Mosaic framework (see text).

63
Korea Internet Case Study
access is available from any location
with a telephone line and PC with a
modem and charged at local call rates.
In addition, Internet cafés are
widespread.
Sector Absorption is rated at level 4
Widely used. This ranking is a function
of the type of connectivity in
education, government, health care
and business. All primary, secondary
and tertiary schools have Internet
access. Practically all government
agencies—including both central and
local administrations—are online with
their own website. The governmental
network provides 28’686 government
ministries, agencies and public
institutions with high-speed
broadband access. Around 60 per cent
of Korea’s 360’000 companies with
five or more employees are connected
to the Internet (July 2001). The
Ministry of Health and Welfare is
connected to its different offices,
hospitals and the country’s health care
clinics through a two Mbps leased line.
The Connectivity Infrastructure is
at level 4, Immense. International
connectivity in the year 2001 was over
6’500 Mbps. There are a number of
nationwide backbone networks
operated by ISPs. The major one
operates at 5-10 Gbps between major
cities and 155-622 Mbps between
smaller cities. There are three
commercial and one non-profit
Internet exchange. Korea leads the
world in high-speed local Internet
access with options including ADSL,
cable modem and apartment and
office building Local Area Networks.
The Organizational Infrastructure
is at level 3.5, between Competitive
and Robust. Market entry for ISPs is
liberalized. There were 82 ISPs
registered with the nation’s Network
Information Center (KRNIC) at
December 2002. There are limitations
on the direct provision of high-speed
access lines. Local loop unbundling,
although legal, has not been widely
implemented due to commercial
barriers.
Sophistication of Use is at level 3,
Transforming. The most popular
64
consumer application is gaming and
the nation leads the world in this
category. Educational software is
another popular category. E-
commerce is well developed as is
online banking (some 12 million online
banking users) and stock market
transactions (online trades account for
67 per cent of stock market
transactions).
5.2 Lies, Damned Lies and
Statistics2
As this report has shown, Korea is well
advanced in Information and
Communication Technology (ICT). It
leads the world in broadband Internet
access, is ranked fifth in overall access
to the Internet and was one of the
first countries to launch a third
generation mobile network. It has
achieved universal access with
practically every household not only
having telephone service but more
than half with a broadband service. It
has one of the worlds leading ICT
manufacturing sectors, a remarkable
achievement for a nation still officially
classified as developing. Koreans are
well educated and rank high in literacy
and overall educational achievement.
Yet, on most international ICT and
competitiveness rankings, Korea falls
in the middle range (see Table 5.1).
Why the inconsistency?
For one thing, the rankings are often
based on the same set of variables.
The similarity of where Korea shows
up, generally in the high 60 percentile,
reinforces this assumption. Second,
quantity is favoured over quality. The
rankings are typically designed to
favour a common denominator of
widely available indicators, rate high
per capita values without adjusting for
methodological discrepancies and do
not adjust for qualitative differences.
For example, many European nations
artificially inflate the number of main
telephone lines—a common indicator
in all of the indexes—by including
Integrated Services Digital Network
(ISDN) channels. Korea does not. So
if the number of physical telephone
lines were compared, Korea would
rank much higher (see Figure 5.2, top
left). A similar situation exists for

mobile cellular subscribers where
many nations have a high portion of
prepaid cards that are included in the
figures but which are not all used.
Korea has few mobile prepaid
subscribers and consequently has a
more realistic figure for mobile
penetration (see Figure 5.2, top right).
Another methodological weakness is
that many surveys use the number of
Internet hosts per capita to rank
Internet intensity. This is misleading
since host computers can be located
anywhere and not necessarily in the
country of their domain name.
Furthermore, all three letter generic
hosts (e.g., .COM) are attributed to
the United States even though many
other countries use these domain
names. On a per capita basis, the
number of Internet host computers in
Korea—based only on the .KR domain
name—is relatively low, affecting its
ranking. On the other hand, Korea’s
high level of Internet and broadband
penetration is rarely reflected in the
standings (see Figure 5.2, bottom left).
Global rankings also appear to be
biased in favour of western theoretical
perceptions of competitiveness rather
than actual achievement. In general,
few Asian nations rank in the top ten.
Hypothetical assumptions appear to
carry more weight with the rankings
Table 5.1: Ranking Korea
How Korea ranks in various global indexes, 2001
Informatization EIU e-readiness World
Index —60 countries Competitiveness
—50 countries —49 countries
USA 1 USA 1 USA
Switzerland 6 Switzerland 11 Switzerland
Korea 17 Korea 21 Korea
Last year (19) (24)
Rank as % (68%) (67%)
Note: Number in parenthesis refers to previous year rank. Percentage in parenthesis refers to rank as a
per cent of total countries ranked.
Source: ITU adapted from NCA, EIU, IMD and IDC.
65
5. Conclusion
more focused on the means rather
than the ends. For example, a nation
that supposedly allows a greater
degree of competition than another
would be ranked higher even though
the latter might have a far greater
level of infrastructure. Another
shortcoming is that the rankings tend
to weight per capita income highly. In
the case of Korea, it is doing
exceedingly well in ICT despite a
relatively low per capita income. If
anything, Korea’s ranking should be
raised because of this fact. In terms
of purchasing power parity, Korea’s
per capita income is twice that of the
conventional measurement (see
Figure 5.2, bottom right).
The case of Korea suggests that these
scorecards are not very useful in
accurately measuring ICT
achievement. In any case, in the
framework used by the ITU to assess
a nation’s state of e-readiness, Korea
obtains the highest score of any of the
fifteen countries studied (for
comparison, see: www.itu.int/ict/cs)
5.3 Learning from Korea
Because of its relatively low
e-readiness rankings, Korea’s
accomplishments and its way of
getting there are often neglected. This
is a shame for Korea has much to
teach the world. Some of what Korea
Information Society
Index
—55 countries
1 Sweden 1
7 Switzerland 7
27 Korea 18
(28) (19)
(47%) (67%)
Korea Internet Case Study

Figure 5.2: Recomparing Korea and Switzerland

2001

Fixed telephone lines per 100 inhabitants Mobile cellular subscribers per
100 inhabitants

72
With ISDN
73
channels
47 Total
61
Switzerland Switzerland
Korea Korea
Without 45 43
ISDN Subscription
channels based
47 61

Internet per 100 inhabitants Per capita income, US$

7.3 36’970
Conventional
Hosts Switzerland measure Switzerland
0.9 Korea 9’400
Korea

30.8 31’320
Purchasing
Users Power Parity
51.1 18’110

Source: ITU World Telecommunication Indicators database.

has done is uniquely Korean and universal. The government has in

probably not replicable. In some ways,
the Internet in Korea is a huge
Intranet filled with national content
that is unfathomable to non-Korean
speakers. But there are plenty of
things that Korea has done that
provide useful lessons other nations
can learn from. One is the
fundamental role of the government
in promoting ICT infrastructure,
applications and usage. Table 5.2
highlights ICT areas where Korea has
been successful and the reasons why.
It identifies which policies might be
relevant for other countries.
There are few recommendations that
one can offer a country as advanced
in ICT as Korea. Access to basic
telecommunication service is nearly
place programs to reduce its digital
divide. Access prices are
comparatively among the lowest in the
world. Broadband penetration is the
world’s highest. Recommendations
also seem futile because Korea is so
far ahead and in uncharted territory
where insufficient evidence has
accumulated to form opinions about
best practice.
A US President once said: “ask not
what your country can do for you—
ask what you can do for your
country.”3 In the case of Korea, this
might rephrased to “ask not what
Korea can do for itself—ask what it
can do for other countries.” The
Korean government recognizes its
advances and has endeavoured to

66

Table 5.2: Which factors can be exported?
Reasons for Korea’s ICT success and whether they are replicable in other nations
Factor
Education. Korea’s high level of education—in terms of
both school enrolment and educational attainment—has
contributed to the Korean population’s ability to learn
and use ICT.
Geography. 80 per cent of Korea’s population lives in
urban areas. Apartments account for 48 per cent of
Korea’s housing stock and provide dwelling for 40 per
cent of its population. This high population density
simplifies network development and lowers costs
investment.
Competitiveness. There are a number of broadband
service providers creating the competitive environment
necessary for lowering prices and speeding network
deployment. Although local loop unbundling is possible
in Korea, most broadband providers are facilities-
based. The availability of a variety of broadband
technologies (xDSL, cable modem, wireless, fibre optic
LANs) adds to competitiveness and dynamism.
Government. Korea’s high level of ICT adoption is no
accident. It is the result of years of government
policies, planning and financial support for targeted
areas. A high level of cooperation between government
and the private sector has assured success.
Furthermore, license fees from the ICT industry remain
in the ICT sector and are not transferred to other areas
of the government budget. This has provided seed
funding for the Ministry of Information and
Communication to invest in areas such as low interest
loans for network roll out, ICT training and providing
access to disadvantaged groups.
Equipment. Korea has a large ICT equipment industry
with well-known names such as Samsung and LG. This
has assisted development in that domestic
manufacturers have been able to produce ICT products
at reasonable costs. Korea’s export orientation has put
a focus on product development in technologies in
which it can play a lead role. This in turn has had a
favourable impact on its domestic market by keeping it
advanced.
Socio-economics. Korea has a much higher level of ICT
penetration than its economic level would suggest. The
UN classifies it as a developing nation and its per capita
income is not in the highest grouping. Korea’s relatively
large population of some 47 million make for a big
market in terms of achieving economies of scale and
attracting investment.
Source: ITU.
5. Conclusion
Exportable?
Korea’s success suggests that if countries want to be
successful in ICT, they need to commit resources for
education. Providing ICTs to educational institutions and
enhancing ICT training is essential. This should be the one
of the main thrusts of government ICT policies.
Countries that have high levels of urbanization can more
easily install broadband infrastructure. This includes much
of Central and Eastern Europe and Latin America. However,
this factor is not relevant for regions such as Africa or
South Asia with large rural populations.
The lesson here is facilities-based competition, one that
even developed countries can learn from. Too many
nations have focused on local loop unbundling as the way
towards creating a competitive broadband market. The
results have not generally been very successful. Korea has
shown that facilities-based competition, even in a mature
network, works. The other lesson is the competitive
pressure of alternative broadband technologies. Countries
should license cable television and high-speed wireless
access providers to offer an alternative to incumbent
telephone operator xDSL services. It should be noted that
Korea’s cable television network is young, just over a
dozen years old. Countries without cable television
networks might find they could quickly develop them by
offering potential investors licenses to provide telephony,
entertainment and cable modem services.
A key point is that income from license fees remains in the
ICT sector to finance public networks (e.g., government,
education) as well as to assist with providing access to
disadvantaged groups. Another point is that while
infrastructure development is most likely best handled by
the private sector, governments nonetheless have a crucial
role to play in overall ICT strategy and universal access
policies. A third point is the success of Korea’s collaborative
approach between government and industry. All of these
points can be adapted by other nations.
Most developing countries do not have large ICT equipment
manufacturers like Korea. Nonetheless, they could try to
achieve the same benefits through open, competitive
tendering for ICT projects. Local industry could also forge
partnerships with overseas equipment vendors to
manufacture locally and transfer technology.
The fact that Korea’s ICT development is at a significantly
higher level in relation to its per capita income is great
news for other countries. It means that ICT access does
not have to be constrained by income. On the other hand,
the relatively large size of Korea is not something all
countries can benefit from. However, they can leverage the
same benefits by participating in regional grouping
particularly for infrastructure projects and bulk equipment
purchases.
67
Korea Internet Case Study
share them with others through
participation in international forums
and hosting of workshops. In the case
of the ITU, Korea made a proposal to
the World Telecommunication
Development Conference calling for
developing nations to explore use of
xDSL technologies for broadband
68
access.4 Korea has also hosted two
ITU workshops on network security in
2002. However, it can go further in
spreading the secrets of its success
by offering firmer support for technical
assistance and advice to other nations
that want to become information
societies.

Box 5.1: And what of the North?
The focus of this report is the Republic of Korea—
popularly referred to as South Korea. Yet, it is
not the only Korea. The other occupant of the
Korean Peninsula is the Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea—commonly referred to as North
Korea. Once one country, cold war tension
following the Second World War led to the creation
of two separate republics. Despite their cultural,
Box Table 5.1: The two Koreas compared
2001
Population (000s)
GNI per capita US$
Fixed telephone subscribers (000s)
Per 100 inhabitants
Mobile cellular subscribers (000s)
Per 100 inhabitants
Internet users (000s)
Per 100 inhabitants
Note: * Refers to “Intranet” users of closed government network. Officially, Internet access is not available
although some users may dial-up ISPs in China or Japan.
Source: ITU, Korea (Rep.) Ministry of Unification and Ministry of Information and Communication.
The North has a low level of telecommunication
development not only compared to the South but
also in relation to other nations. North Korea’s fixed
telephone density is just over two, about the same
level as low-income nations. It does not have a
mobile cellular network. The North has
30’000 “Intranet” users, mostly in the government
and research centres that can access databases and
exchange e-mail through a closed network. North
Korea’s Internet domain name is .KP but no
administrator has been assigned and it is not
believed there are any web sites in the country.
The national news agency has a site hosted in Japan.
The North Korean government has expressed a
desire to upgrade its telecommunication network,
to provide more citizens with telephone service and
to adopt the latest information and communication
technologies. Mobile would have a lot of potential
to alleviate telephone shortages in North Korea since
a wireless network can be installed relatively quickly.
According to one report, if mobile services were
introduced, the number of subscribers would climb
to 50’000 the first year and to 1.8 million within
five years, surpassing forecasts for the fixed
network.
It is estimated that it would cost around
US$ 500 million over a five-year period to improve
the telecommunication network, launch a mobile
network and extend telecommunication access in
5. Conclusion
linguistic and ethnic similarity, there are probably
few countries as far apart in development. North
Korea has pursued a socialist self-sufficient
oriented path, guided by state planning. South
Korea has a market-oriented economy, and is
export oriented. The results are two different
countries in terms of economic and ICT
development (see table below).
North South Ratio
22’253 47’343 2
707 8’894 13
500 22’590 45
2.3 47.7 21
- 29’046 -
- 62.0 -
30* 24’380 813
0.13 52.1 401
North Korea. The major problem is where the North
could obtain the funding. Current services do not
generate sufficient income for an investment of that
size and vendor financing is problematic. Since the
North is not a member of regional or multi-lateral
financial institutions such as the Asian Development
Bank or the World Bank it cannot obtain financing
from those sources. The only feasible alternative
seems to be some kind of partnership with foreign
companies such as a joint venture or build-transfer
arrangement.
The South could help given their higher level of
development and ICT success. There appears to be
some interest by South Korean firms to invest in
the North’s ICT sector. Officials of South Korea’s
largest mobile operator, SK Telecom, have been to
the North to discuss the construction of a CDMA
mobile network. Hanaro, the South’s second largest
broadband operator, is working with North Korea to
build broadband equipment as well as provide
animation services. Despite the dearth of ICT
development in the North, there are some bright
areas. One field doing relatively well in is software
development. Researchers at the Kim Jung Suk
Teachers College have developed over
2’000 educational software titles. The Silver Star
Computer Technology Institute, created in 1995, has
exported software to Japan. The government has been
organizing an annual software contest for the last
decade and is committed to increasing IT training.
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Korea Internet Case Study

1
The Korean Network Information Centre (KRNIC) carries out regular surveys to determine the number of
Internet users in the country. An Internet user is defined as a person, over the age of six who uses the
Internet at least more than once a month. See http://stat.nic.or.kr/iuser/image/survey-dom.gif.
2
This term was used by the American author Mark Twain to refer to three kinds of lies. Twain incorrectly
attributed the quote to a British Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli. Subsequent research found that Leonard
Henry Courtney, a British Baron, first used the phrase. See University of York (UK). “Lies, Damned Lies and
Statistics.” www.york.ac.uk/depts/maths/histstat/lies.htm.
3
John F. Kennedy’s inaugural speech. http://www.cs.umb.edu/jfklibrary/j012061.htm.
4
“Proposal on the xDSL Based Broadband Internet.” http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/pdf/2128-086-en.pdf.

70
 Annexes

Annex 1: List of meetings

No Date/ Research Area Appointment with

. Time
1 23/05/02 Overview of ICT developments in Korea Ministry of Information and
14:00 Overview of ICT policies Communication (MIC)
ADSL success factors
Telecommunication market policies
E-Government
E-Commerce
2 24/05/02 E-education Korea Education & Research
09:00 Information Service (KERIS)

3 24/05/02 E-health Health Insurance Review Agency

14:00 (HIRA)

4 24/05/02 Internet domain policies Korea Network Information Center

17:00 (KRNIC)
5 27/05/02 Informatization of statistics Korea National Statistical Office
09:00 Collection of ICT related statistics (NSO)
6 27/05/02 ADSL technology and development Electronics Telecommunications
14:00 The Role of ETRI in Korea Research Institute (ETRI)
7 28/05/02 Cable modem and broadband access Hanaro Telecom
09:00
8 28/05/02 ADSL KT
14:00 Business prospects
9 29/05/02 Korea informatization and prospects National Computerization Agency
09:00 Internet development and prospects (NCA)
10 29/05/02 Informatization policyies Korea Information Society
14:00 Socio-cultural background on Internet Development Institute (KISDI)
developments
Telecommunication market analysis
11 30/05/02 IMT-2000 SKT
09:00 Wireless Internet
12 30/05/02 Final session (Review of Interview) Ministry of Information and
14:00 Communication (MIC)

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Korea Internet Case Study

Annex 2: Acronyms and abbreviations

2G Second Generation of mobile communications technology

3G Third Generation of mobile communications technology
ADSL Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line
APEC Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation
APSIRC Asia-Pacific Security Incident Response Coordination working group
ARPU Average Revenue Per User
ASEAN Association of South East Asian Nations
B2B Business-to-Business
B2C Business-to-Consumer
B2G Business-to-Government
CDMA Code-Division Multiple Access
CIUS Computer and Internet Use Survey
DSL Digital Subscriber Line
EDI Electronic Data Interchange
ETRI Electronics Telecommunications Research Institute
e-WAS Early warning and alert system
FIFA Federation Internationale de Football Association
FiMM First in Mobile Multimedia
FIRST Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams
FSP Facilities-based Service Providers
Gbps Giga bits per second
GDP/GNP/GNI Gross Domestic Product/Gross National Product/Gross National Income
GFCF Gross Fixed Capital Formation.
GIS Geographic Information System
GPRS General Packet Radio Service
GSM Global System for Mobile Communication
HFC Hybrid Fibre Coaxial (cable)
HIRA Health Insurance Review Agency
HTS Home Tax Service
ICT Information and Communication Technology
IMF International Monetary Fund
IP Internet Protocol

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 Annexes

ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network

ISP Internet Service Provider
IT Information Technology
ITU International Telecommunication Union
KERIS Korea Education and Research Information Service
KII Korea Information Infrastructure project
KISA Korea Information Security Agency
KISDI Korea Information Society Development Institute
KIX Korean Internet Exchange
KNIX Korean Neutral Internet Exchange
KOREN Korea Advanced Research Network
KORNET Korea Telecom’s Internet Service Provider
KOSDAQ Korean venture capital stock exchange (KOSDAQ)
KREN Korean Education Network
KRNIC Korea Network Information Center
KRW Korean Won, Korea’s national currency (see Won).
KT Korea Telecom Corporation
LAN Local Area Network
LG Lucky Goldstar
Mbps Mega bits per second
MHz Megahertz
MIC Ministry of Information and Communications
MMS Multimedia messaging service
MOCIE Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy
MOE Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development
MOHW Ministry of Health and Welfare
MPEG Moving Picture Experts Group
NCA National Computerization Agency
NSO Korea National Statistical Office
OECD Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development
P2P Peer-to-peer
PC Personal Computer

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Korea Internet Case Study

PCS Personal Communication Service

PDA Personal digital assistant
PDC Personal Digital Cellular
R&D Research and Development
SDN System Development Network
SME Small- and Medium-sized enterprise
SMS Short Messaging Service
SSP Specific Service Provider
TCP/IP Transmission Control Protocol/ Internet Protocol
TV Television
UN United Nations
UNDP United Nations Development Programme
UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
VASP Value-added Service Provider
VDSL Very high-bit rate Digital Subscriber Line
VoIP Voice over Internet Protocol
WAN Wide Area Network
WAP Wireless Application Protocol
W-CDMA Wideband Code-Division Multiple Access.
WINC Wireless Internet Numbers for Content
WLAN Wireless Local Area Network
WLL Wireless Local Loop
WON The national currency of Korea. Conversions to US dollars in this report have been
made at 31 December 2001 exchange rate of 1’315.5 = US$ 1.
WTO World Trade Organization

74
 Annex 3: Framework dimensions

Table 1: Pervasiveness of the Internet

Level 0 Non-existent: The Internet does not exist in a viable form in this country. No computers with
international IP connections are located within the country. There may be some Internet users
in the country; however, they obtain a connection via an international telephone call to a
foreign ISP.

Level 1 Embryonic: The ratio of users per capita is on the order of magnitude of less than one in a
thousand (less than 0.1%).

Level 2 Established: The ratio of Internet users per capita is on the order of magnitude of at least one
in a thousand (0.1% or greater).

Level 3 Common: The ratio of Internet users per capita is on the order of magnitude of at least one in
a hundred (1% or greater).

Level 4 Pervasive: The Internet is pervasive. The ratio of Internet users per capita is on the order of
magnitude of at least one in 10 (10% or greater).

Table 2: Geographic Dispersion of the Internet

Level 0 Non-existent. The Internet does not exist in a viable form in this country. No computers with
international IP connections are located within the country. A country may be using UUCP
connections for email and USEnet.

Level 1 Single location: Internet points-of-presence are confined to one major population centre.

Level 2 Moderately dispersed: Internet points-of-presence are located in at least half of the first-tier
political subdivisions of the country.

Level 3 Highly dispersed: Internet points-of-presence are located in at least three-quarters of the first-
tier political subdivisions of the country.

Level 4 Nationwide: Internet points-of-presence are located in all first-tier political sub-divisions of the
country. Rural dial-up access is publicly and commonly available and leased line connectivity is
available.

Table 3a: Sectoral Use of the Internet

Sector Rare Moderate Common

Academic - primary >0-10% have leased-line 10-90% have leased-line >90% have leased-line
and secondary schools, Internet connectivity Internet connectivity Internet connectivity
universities

Commercial- >0-10% have Internet 10-90% have Internet >90% have Internet
businesses with > 100 servers servers servers
employees

Health-hospitals and >0-10% have leased-line 10-90% have leased-line >90% have leased-line
clinics Internet connectivity Internet connectivity Internet connectivity

Public-top and second >0-10% have Internet 10-90% have Internet >90% have Internet
tier government servers servers servers
entities

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Korea Internet Case Study

Table 3b: The Sectoral Absorption of the Internet

Sectoral point total Absorption dimension rating

0 Level 0 Non-existent

1-4 Level 1 Rare

5-7 Level 2 Moderate

8-9 Level 3 Common

10-12 Level 4 Widely used

Table 4: Connectivity Infrastructure of the Internet

Domestic International Internet Access Methods

backbone Links Exchanges

Level 0 Non- None None None None

existent

Level 1 Thin ≤ 2 Mbps ? 128 Kbps None Modem

Level 2 Expanded >2 >128 kbps 1 Modem

– 200 Mbps -- 45 Mbps 64 Kbps leased
lines

Level 3 Broad >200 Mbps >45 Mbps More than 1; Modem

-- 100 Gbps -- 10 Gbps Bilateral or Open > 64 Kbps leased
lines

Level 4 Immense > 100 Gbps > 10 Gbps Many; Both < 90% modem
Bilateral and Open > 64 Kbps leased
lines

Table 5: The Organizational Infrastructure of the Internet

Level 0 None: The Internet is not present in this country.

Level 1 Single: A single ISP has a monopoly in the Internet service provision market. This ISP is generally
owned or significantly controlled by the government.

Level 2 Controlled: There are only a few ISPs because the market is closely controlled through high
barriers to entry. All ISPs connect to the international Internet through a monopoly
telecommunications service provider. The provision of domestic infrastructure is also a monopoly.

Level 3 Competitive: The Internet market is competitive and there are many ISPs due to low barriers to
market entry. The provision of international links is a monopoly, but the provision of domestic
infrastructure is open to competition, or vice versa.

Level 4 Robust: There is a rich service provision infrastructure. There are many ISPs and low barriers to
market entry. International links and domestic infrastructure are open to competition. There are
collaborative organizations and arrangements such as public exchanges, industry associations, and
emergency response teams.

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 Annexes

Table 6: The Sophistication of Use of the Internet

Level 0 None: The Internet is not used, except by a very small fraction of the population that logs into
foreign services.

Level 1 Minimal: The small user community struggles to employ the Internet in conventional, mainstream
applications.

Level 2 Conventional: The user community changes established practices somewhat in response to or in
order to accommodate the technology, but few established processes are changed dramatically.
The Internet is used as a substitute or straight-forward enhancement for an existing process (e.g.
e-mail vs. post). This is the first level at which we can say that the Internet has "taken hold" in a
country.

Level 3 Transforming: The user community's use of the Internet results in new applications, or significant
changes in existing processes and practices, although these innovations may not necessarily
stretch the boundaries of the technology's capabilities. One strong indicator of business process
re-engineeering to take advantage of the Internet, is that a significant number (over 5%) of Web
sites, both government and business, are interactive.

Level 4 Innovating: The user community is discriminating and highly demanding. The user community is
regularly applying, or seeking to apply the Internet in innovative ways that push the capabilities of
the technology. The user community plays a significant role in driving the state-of-the-art and has
a mutually beneficial and synergistic relationship with developers.

77